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A  HISTORY  OF  LABOUR 


A    HISTORY 
OF  LABOUR 


BY 

GILBERT    STONE 

u 

SOMETIME    SECRETARY     TO     THE     COAL    INDUSTRY    COMMISSION     AND 

DEPUTY    HEAD    OF  PRODUCTION    COAL    MINES   DEPARTMENT     B.A.    LL.B. 

AUTHOR     OF    "the     BRITISH    COAL    INDUSTRY"    "ENGLAND:    TO    THE 

GREAT  charter"    "  WALES  "   ETC. 


THE    MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1922 

All  rights  reserved 


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Printed  in  Great  [iritain  at  The  Ballantynk  Prbss  by 

Sfottiswoode.  Baliantvne  &  Co.  Ltd. 

Colchester.  Landon  £■  Htini 


PREFACE 

THERE  may  be  no  doubt  that  the  present  age  is 
of  the  great  ages  of  the  world.  We  who  now  live 
have  experienced  disasters  more  serious  than 
those  of  preceding  generations.  We  have  also  had  offered 
to  us  as  compensation  opportunities  that  do  not  frequently 
recur.  It  is  for  us  to  move  the  world  forward  or  backward, 
Belonging  to  such  an  age,  I  make  no  apology  for  endeavour- 
ing to  see,  by  a  consideration  of  the  past,  what  are  our 
tendencies  and  whither  they  are  leading. 

As  Carlyle  once  said,  "  Not  on  Ilion's  or  Latium's 
plains ;  on  far  other  plains  and  places  henceforth  can 
noble  deeds  be  now  done.  Not  on  Ilion's  plains ;  how 
much  less  in  Mayfair's  drawing  rooms  !  Not  in  victory 
over  poor  brother  French  or  Phrygians ;  but  in  victory 
over  Frost-jotuns,  Marsh-giants,  over  demons  of  Discord, 
Idleness,  Injustice,  Unreason,  and  Chaos  come  again. 
None  of  the  old  Epics  is  longer  possible."  We  have 
arrived  at  a  time  when  the  masses  definitely  and  un- 
doubtedly matter  ;  when  it  is  no  longer  a  question  of  the 
Have-nots  reaching  out  their  hands  for  the  possessions  of 
the  Haves.  The  conscience  of  mankind  has  at  length 
realized  the  truth  of  what  the  Encyclopaedists  declared,; 
that  mankind  was  composed  not  of  some  men,  but  of  all' 
men.  With  that  realization  the  story  of  all  men — the 
masses — becomes  not  merely  invested  with  interest,  but  of 
importance. 

When  Eden  wrote  his  history  toward  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  he  wrote  with  his  eye  mainly  on  the 
Poor  Law.  The  people  and  pauperism  were  linked 
together  then  so  closely  that  a  consideration  of  the  one 

40S38G  ^ 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

suggested  a  treatise  on  the  other.  The  time  when  such 
an  association  of  ideas  was  not  only  possible  but  natural 
has  passed.  Circumstances  have  changed;  but  though 
the  change  is  manifest  to  the  most  obtuse,  though  the  fact 
is  apparent  all  around  us,  yet  many,  and  indeed  most, 
appear  to  have  little  idea  or  knowledge  of  the  causes  which 
in  less  than  a  hundred  years  have  brought  about  a  funda- 
mental alteration  in  the  conditions  of  the  people. 

The  spirit  of  the  past  still  lived  when  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  told  the  unreformed  Parliament  that  it  was 
of  all  human  institutions  the  most  perfect,  yet  the  years, 
few  in  number,  which  stretch  between  that  pronounce- 
ment of  dying  Toryism  and  this  day  have  brought  about  a 
shifting  of  the  political  centre  of  gravity,  have  raised  the 
leaders  of  working-class  thought  and  opinion  to  a  position  of 
authority  in  the  State,  have  changed  the  environment  of  the 
home  and  the  factory  life  led  by  the  masses,  and  have 
increased  both  the  prosperity  and,  to  a  lesser  degree,  the 
intelligence  of  the  people,  not  only  in  this  country,  but  in 
civilized  states  generally. 

But  though  these  latter  days  are  pregnant  with  interest 
and  change  we  should  derive  a  false  impression  of  the 
stately  movements  of  the  Inevitable  if  we  solely  regarded 
the  history  of  the  masses  in  that  period  which  I  have  in  this 
book  called  the  Present.  That  era  was  led  up  to.  It  was 
prepared  for.  Man  did  not  spring  fully  equipped  into 
the  arena  of  life.  He  slowly  learnt  his  way  through 
struggles  innumerable  and  strife  and  misery  and  his  own 
unconquerable  spirit.  Those  long  ages  we  must  not  forget. 
They  are  the  ages  of  the  Past. 

Convinced  as  I  am  that  the  future  is  with  the  masses, 
convinced  also  as  I  am  of  the  inevitableness  of  one  of  two 
alternatives:  either  that  the  masses  will  use  their  power 
more  generously  and  more  justly  than  the  classes  have  used 
their  authority  in  any  age  within  historic  times,  or  that  our 
or  the  next  generation  will  add  to  experienced  disasters  an 
as  yet  unexperienced  chaos  that  will  cause  the  losses  of 
the  War  to  recede  into  insignificance,  I  have  devoted  my 


PREFACE 

leisure  to  a  humble  attempt  to  depict  in  the  broadest 
manner  possible  the  history  of  the  masses,  not  only  in 
England,  but  in  other  countries  also,  from  the  days  when 
they  were  slaves  to  these  days  when  they  are  free — and 
free  not  merely  in  the  view  of  lawyers,  but  in  truth.  I 
have  done  this  in  order  to  search  for  the  root  cause  of  the 
change  which  has  occurred  in  the  circumstances  of  life 
of  the  masses,  and  in  order  to  show  how  great  that  change 
has  been.  It  has  been  no  light  task.  Many  details  will, 
without  doubt,  be  found  wanting  and  others  will  be  blurred, 
but  I  shall  be  content  if  it  be  found  that  the  general  picture 
is  in  perspective. 

I  am  no  believer  in  a  suddenly  achieved  Utopia;  I  see 
little  in  history  that  suggests  that  short  cuts  are  the  best 
roads  to  travel  by;  I  see  little  gain  in  sharp  upheavals.  In 
the  future,  as  in  the  past,  it  will  be  the  character  and  worth 
of  our  race  which  will  secure  us  sound  advantages.  This 
work  is,  indeed,  based  upon  the  belief,  not  held  lightly  or 
in  ignorance,  that  natural  tendencies  favour  evolution  and 
oppose  most  sharply  revolution. 

As  I  view  the  matter,  the  evolutionary  forces  which 
can  be  seen  at  work  moulding  the  history  of  the  masses 
slowly  acted  throughout  the  ages  until  at  length  the 
people  were  fitted  to  rule.  When  once  the  people  had 
come  into  possession  of  political  power  (and  that  such  a 
gain  was  secured  is  due  primarily  to  the  genius  of  three 
great  countries,  Great  Britain,  France,  and  the  United 
States)  the  upward  movement  was  rapid. 

To-day  the  masses  can  do,  if  they  will,  what  they  will. 
It  therefore,  in  my  opinion,  behoves  everyone  who  is 
interested  in  matters  political  and  in  the  advancement  of  the 
human  species  to  encourage  the  masses  to  like  what  is  worth 
liking.  It  would  also  be  no  small  gain  if  they  could  fully 
realize  their  power,  their  rights,  and  also  their  duties. 
The  strong  man  does  not  exert  his  strength  unduly,  nor 
does  the  owner  of  the  orchard  rob  it.  But  even  now  we 
see  on  all  sides  a  people  playing  fitfully  with  the  dangerous 
weapons  of  industrial   force  to  achieve  what  knowledge, 

7 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

linked  to  the  power  which  they  already  possess,  would 
immediately  secure  for  them  without  a  struggle.  We  live 
enmeshed  in  paralysing  prejudices,  and  though  in  so  saying 
I  may  be  overbold,  I  will  still  say  with  Montesquieu : 
"  I  should  think  myself  the  most  happy  of  mortals  could  I 
contribute  to  make  mankind  recover  from  their  prejudices. 
By  prejudices  I  here  mean  not  that  which  renders  men 
ignorant  of  some  particular  thing,  but  whatever  renders 
them  ignorant  of  themselves." 

GILBERT  STONE 
London 

June  192 1 


CONTENTS 

PART  I  :    THE   PAST 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Prologue  to  Part  I  17 

I.   The  Unfree  23 

Slavery  :  Origins — Greek,  Hebrew,  Roman  :  The 
Roman  Slave  :  The  Slave  a  Thing  :  The  Power 
of  the  Master  :  Collegia  :  The  Slave's  Disabilities  : 
The  Slave  a  Power  :  The  Slave  in  Commerce  :  The 
Decline  of  the  Roman  Empire  :  The  Serf  :  The 
Feudal  System  :  The  Manor  :  The  Status  of  the 
Serf  :  The  Condition  of  the  Serfs :  Decline  of  Serf- 
dom :  Serfdom  by  Birth  :  Labour  of  Serfs  :  The 
Rights  of  the  Lord. 

II.    Emancipation  44 

Trade  and  Industry  in  the  Early  Medieval  Period  :  The 
New  Era  :  The  Manorial  Lords  :  Enfranchisements  : 
The  Rise  of  the  Towns  :  Localization  of  Trade  : 
Town  Charters  :  Displacement  of  Population  :  The 
Black  Death  :  Statute  of  Labourers  :  Peasants' 
Rebellion  :  Strength  of  the  Free  Towns  :  Extinc- 
tion of  Serfdom  :  Reaction  :  Colonial  Slavery  : 
American  Slavery. 

III.    The  Gilds  66 

Origins  :  England,  France,  and  Italy  :  Gild  and  Trade 
Union  :  The  Beverley  Gild  :  The  Craft  Gild  : 
Gild  Regulation  :  Early  Combinations  :  Friendly 
Societies :  The  Gild  Control  of  Labour  :  Importance 
of  the  Gilds  :  Confiscation. 

IV.   The  Master  Worker  82 

The  Apprentice  :  Deeds  of  Apprenticeship  :  State  In- 
terference :  The  Journeyman  :  The  Hiring  :  Hours 
and  Wages  :  Combinations   :    State  Regulation  of 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Wages  :  The  Justices  :  Maximum  Wages  :  Regu- 
lation of  Hours  of  Labour  :  Migration  :  The 
Master  :  Trade  Localities  :  Tudor  Legislation  :  Act 
against  Combinations  :  Quarterly  Contracts  :  Be- 
ginnings of  a  Factory  System  ;  The  Statute  of 
Artificers  or  Apprentices  :  Hours  of  Labour  :  Wages : 
Apprentices. 

V.   Poverty  hi 

The  Pauper  :  Early  Agrarian  Changes  :  The  Manor  : 
Enclosure  :  Kett's  Rebellion  :  Depreciation  of  the 
Currency  :  Minor  Causes  of  Poverty  :  The  Unem- 
ployed :  The  Vagabond  and  Sturdy  Beggar  :  The 
Destitute  :  The  Poor  Law  :  The  Elizabethan 
Poor  Law  :  Settlements  :  Administrative  Abuses  : 
Pauperization  :  The  Allowance  System  :  The 
Workhouse. 

VI.   A  Medieval  Period  134 

Material  Resources  :  Population  :  The  State  of  Agri- 
culture :  The  Poor  :  The  Worker  and  the  Land  : 
Food  :  Clothing  :  Houses  :  Wages  :  Learning  : 
The  Spirit  of  the  Poor  :  Development  of  Resources  : 
Games  :  France  :  Colbertism  :  The  Workshop. 

VII.    Education  153 

Brito-Roman  Schools  :  The  Medieval  System  :  The 
Gild  Schools  :  Church  Control  :  The  Lollards  :  The 
Reformation  :  Elizabethan  Reforms  :  Poor  Law 
Schools  :  The  Commonwealth  :  Early  American 
Efforts  :  France  :  Sixteenth-century  Demands  : 
Persecution  of  Heretics  and  the  Ordinance  of 
Louis  XIV  :  The  Voluntary  Effort  in  France  : 
Institut  des  Freres  des  ficoles  Chretiennes  :  The 
Restoration  in  England  :  The  Charity  Schools  :  The 
Voluntary  Effort  in  England  :  Early  Efforts  :  The 
Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge  :  The 
Opening  Years  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  :  State 
of  Education  in  Europe  :  Brougham  and  the  Volun- 
tary System. 

VIII.   The  Agrarian  Revolution  175 

The  Earlier  Enclosure  Movement  :  Nature  of  Later 
Enclosure  Movement  :  Motives  :  Advantages 
Gained    :   Evils    Suffered    :    Parliament    :    Private 

10 


CHAPTER 


PAGE 


CONTENTS 

Bill  Legislation  :  Opposition  Ineffective  :  The 
Commissioners  :  Compensation  :  Injustices  :  Result- 
ing Evils  :  A  Household  Budget  :  Remedial  Pro- 
posals :  Proposals  not  Accepted  :  Distress  :  General 
Results. 

IX.   The  Industrial  Revolution  195 

England's  Century  :  Meaning  of  the  Industrial  Revolu- 
tion :  The  Standard  of  Life  :  Change  of  Status  : 
Growth  of  Population  :  The  Slum  :  Displacement  of 
Population  :  Industrial  Areas  :  Change  :  Machine 
Competition  :  The  Landless  Worker  :  Material 
Gains  :  Spiritual  Losses  :  The  Workhouse  Child  : 
Child  Labour  :  Hours  of  Labour  :  Distress  :  The 
Factory  :  Attitude  of  the  Unreformed  Parliament  : 
The  Feudal  Spirit  :  The  Lords  and  the  Chimney- 
sweeps. 

X.   The  Rise  of  Trade  Unionism  217 

Difference  between  the  Trade  Union  and  the  Gild  : 
The  Standard  of  Life  :  Individual  Bargaining  :  The 
Skilled  and  Unskilled  Trades  :  Appeal  by  Petition  : 
Absence  of  Stable  Combinations  :  Useless  Pro- 
posals :  Laissez-faire  :  Attempts  to  enforce  the  Old 
Laws  :  Early  Unions  :  Combination  Laws  :  Aims 
of  the  Early  Trade  Unionists  :  France  :  America  : 
Francis  Place  :  The  Repeal  of  the  Combination 
Laws  :  The  Law  of  Conspiracy  :  German  Trade 
Unions  :  The  Need  for  Unity  :  The  Twentieth 
Century  :  Decentralization  :  Direct  Action. 


PART   II  :    THE  PRESENT 
Prologue  to  Part  II  247 

XI.    Reform  252 

The  Unreformed  Parliament  :  Corruption  :  Ignorance  : 
Forms  of  Franchise  :  Property,  not  Persons,  Repre- 
sented :  Early  Reformers :  The  Economic  Reformers  : 
Radical  Reform — First  Stage  :  Pitt's  Reform  Bill  : 
Radical  Reform — Second  Stage  :  Pitt's  Repressive 
Measures :  Radical  Reform — ^Third  and  Final  Stage  : 

I  I 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

The  Need  for  Reform  :  Catholic  Emancipation : 
The  Moulding  of  Public  Opinion  :  The  Events 
of  1830  :  Wellington's  Speech  :  Lord  Grey  :  Intro- 
duction of  the  Bill  :  Dissolution  of  Parliament  : 
The  New  Reform  Parliament  :  The  Lords  :  The 
Fall  of  Grey  :  Grey's  Return  to  Power  :  The 
Passing  of  the  Bill  :  Results  of  Reform  :  Extension 
of  the  Franchise  :  Subsequent  History  of  the 
Reform  Movement. 

XII.    The  Factory  285 

State  Regulation  :  Child  Labour  :  The  First  Factory 
Act  :  Wrongs  and  the  Public  Conscience  :  The 
Industrial  Reformers  :  The  Act  of  18 19  :  The  Act 
of  1833  :  The  Ten-hour  Agitation  :  Conditions  of 
Work  :  Factories  and  Mines  :  Cheap  Labour  : 
Ashley's  Act  :  Apprentices  and  the  Butty  System  : 
Regulation  of  the  Mining  Industry  :  Female  Labour  : 
Meaning  of  '  Factory  '  :  Later  Factory  Acts  :  State 
Interference  :  The  Relay  System  :  The  Act  of  1 850  : 
The  Act  of  1874  :  French  Legislation  :  The  French 
Factory  Act  of  1874  :  Switzerland  and  Belgium  : 
United  States  :  The  Provisions  of  the  Peace  Treaty. 

XIII.  The  Home  325 

General  Conditions  :  The  Slums  of  London  :  Sanitary 
Conditions  :  The  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  :  The  State 
of  the  Metropolis  :  The  Water  Supply  :  Transport  : 
Pigs  or  Sties  :  Distress  and  Laissez-faire  :  The 
First  Reformers  :  Early  Measures  :  The  Torrens 
and  Cross  Acts  :  Working  of  the  Earlier  Acts  : 
Private  Activity  :  The  Proposals  of  1885  :  The 
Act  of  1890  :  Town-planning  :  Continental 
Schemes  :  The  Act  of  1909  :  The  Garden  City 
Movement  :  Present  Conditions. 

XIV.  The  Mental  Horizon  348 

General  Condition  of  Europe  :  Prussia  :  France  : 
England  :  Roebuck's  Speech  :  The  State  grants 
Aid  :  Voluntary  Activity  :  Brougham's  Proposals  : 
The  Voluntary  Effort  —  Results  :  Condition  of 
Factory  Schools  :  Newcastle  Commission  Reports  : 
The  Act  of  1870  :  The  Modern  Phase. 
12 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XV.    The  Attack  upon  Poverty  367 

The  Old  Order  :  Poor  Law  Reform  :  The  New  System  : 
The  German  Accident  Law  :  The  English  System  : 
Workmen's  Compensation  :  Social  Gains  :  Health 
Insurance  :  The  Minimum  Wage  :  Old  Age  Pensions. 

XVI.   Tendencies  385 

The  Trend  of  Opinion  :  Definitions  of  Nationalization  : 
Efficiency  the  Test  :  Efficiency  of  State  Control  : 
Experiences  in  other  Countries  :  Collateral  Ad- 
vantages :  Workers'  Control  :  The  Need  for 
Efficiency  :  The  End  and  the  Means  :  Revolution 
or  Evolution  :  Modern  Democracy  :  Class  An- 
tagonism :  The  Hope  for  the  Future. 

A  List  of  Selected  Books  403 

Index  409 


13 


PART   I 

THE    PAST 


A  HISTORY  OF  LABOUR 


PROLOGUE  TO   PART  I 

THERE  are  occasions  when  it  is  well  to  leave  the 
examination  of  matters  of  detail  and  to  stand 
apart  and  survey  the  broad  aspects  of  life.  Neither 
the  size  nor  the  beauty  of  a  wood  is  apparent  when  one 
is  engaged  in  cataloguing  the  trees.  We  will  therefore 
for  a  moment  take  a  wide  survey  of  the  past  and  trace 
in  outline  the  development  of  that  great  class  of  mankind 
known  as  the  masses. 

When  we  view  the  natural  history  of  the  world  we  see 
out  of  chaos  great  mountains  arising  suddenly.  Long 
centuries  roll  by,  and  the  wind  and  the  rain  and  the  sun 
wear  down,  little  by  little,  those  mountains  into  hills,  and 
sometimes  obliterate  them  completely.  It  is  so  with  man. 
When,  after  millenniums  of  years  of  evolution,  of  slow 
progress,  of  conquest  of  nature,  of  beasts,  and  of  brutality, 
man  finally  emerges  from  his  primeval  state  and  crystallizes 
out  into  social  forms,  society  might  be  represented  as 
composed  of  sharp  peaks  and  broad  valleys. 

At  first,  however,  the  social  world  of  man  is  a  very 
little  thing.  His  social  bonds  are,  in  those  early  days, 
bonds  of  kinship.  The  family  and,  later,  the  tribe  are 
the  greatest  associations  that  he  knows.  Within  those 
little  worlds  the  highest  peaks  seem  to  us  to  be  but  mole- 
hills. But  relatively  the  pitch  of  the  curve  separating  the 
father  of  the  family  or  the  chieftain  of  the  tribe  from  the 
son  or  the  tribesman  is  as  steep  as  that  which  later 
separates  the  emperor  from  his  subject.  The  father  of 
the  family,  the  chieftain  of  the  tribe,  led  and  ruled  and 
had    to    be   obeyed.     He   possessed   absolute   power ;   he 

B  17 


.:       HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

had  the  right   to  say   who   should   Hve   and   who   should 
die. 

As  man  grew  in  social  stature  his  world  broadened,  it 
grew  bigger,  more  complex,  less  human.  The  valleys  ii 
became  broad  plains,  rising  to  hills,  and  finally  to  moun-  \\ 
tains.  The  masses  formed  the  plains.  Man  had  secured 
the  conquest  of  animals;  he  had  won  victory  over  inani- 
mate nature.  The  soil  now  did  his  bidding.  It  remained 
for  man  to  conquer  man. 

For  nearly  all  the  years  known  to  history  man  has  been 
in  that  stage  of  political  development  which  may  be 
termed  the  era  of  the  kings.  Civilizations  formed  in 
this  mould  have  arisen  to  greatness  and  have  faded  into 
oblivion,  from  which  only  the  most  patient  research  is  at 
last  slowly  recovering  them.  But  though  there  are  many 
twists  and  turns  in  the  road,  the  road  remained  for  thou- 
sands of  years  the  same.  Throughout  those  millenniums 
men  in  the  mass  were  not  controllers  of  their  own  destiny. 
They  surrendered  their  freedom  to  man  in  return  for 
security  from  the  attacks  of  man. 

It  was  while  the  world  was  still  embroiled  in  successive 
wars,  by  which  first  one  kingship  and  then  another  sought 
to  impose  its  will  upon  mankind,  that  the  great  empire 
arose  which  ushered  in  the  era  to  which  we  belong.  The 
Empire  of  Rome  won  her  supremacy  in  virtue  of  the 
greatness  of  her  people  as  fighters  and  as  lawyers.  The 
Romans  conquered  the  then  known  territories  of  Europe, 
they  held  sway  over  no  small  part  of  Asia,  and  ruled  the 
northern  part  of  Africa.  For  a  season  a  state  existed 
which  feared  not  other  states.  But  the  Romans,  though 
freed  from  the  fear  of  foreign  subjection,  had,  in  winning  that 
liberty,  gone  far  to  create  a  proletariat  of  slaves.  With  the 
downfall  of  that  empire  the  levelling  system  commenced. 

For  a  season  during  those  tragic  years  of  the  fifth  and 
sixth  centuries,  when  the  barbarians  were  bearing  down 
from  the  North,  from  the  West,  and  from  the  East  upon 
Rome,  it  seemed  as  though  the  whole  fabric  of  civilization 
was  crumbling  away.  But  it  was  not  crumbling,  it  was 
i8 


PROLOGUE 

weathering.  The  world  was  designed,  we  may  imagine, 
that  men  rather  than  emperors  should  live  therein.  The 
tyrannies,  the  absolute  monarchies,  the  oligarchies  and 
aristocracies  had  slowly  to  be  reduced,  little  by  little,  until 
the  barren,  snow-clad  mountains,  awe-inspiring,  majestic, 
but  of  little  service  to  the  tiller  of  the  soil,  had  given  place 
to  undulating  hills  and  dales  and  downs  which  could 
delight,  refresh,  and  feed  the  generality  of  men.  Our 
problem  to-day  is  not  who  shall  be  the  mountain,  but  what 
class  shall  form  the  hills. 

The  struggles  which  have  occurred  between  that  age 
and  this  from  some  aspects  wear  an  ugly  look;  the 
masses  have  emerged  so  slowly  from  oppression.  We  see 
pass  before  us  thousands  and  millions  and  thousands  of 
millions  of  slaves  and  serfs.  The  men,  the  women,  the 
children  lived  their  lives,  not  in  happiness,  but  to  serve 
others.  Wrongs  heaped  upon  wrongs  were  imposed  on 
the  masses.  They  fought,  they  died,  they  worked,  and 
suffered  that  the  few  might  live  gaudily. 

But  viewed  from  another  angle  the  history  of  the  masses 
must  stir  in  all  of  us  feelings  of  veneration.  We  watch 
mankind  overcoming  obstacles,  achieving  conquests,  not  of 
the  sword,  but  of  the  mind,  slowly  cutting  a  path  through 
the  dark  forests  of  medieval  wrong.  Little  by  little,  owing 
largely  to  the  influence  of  the  Church,  the  slave  is  a  slave 
no  more.  He  changes  his  garb  for  that  of  the  serf. 
Slowly  the  serf  wins  his  way  to  the  foot  of  the  social  ladder. 
A  benevolent  selfishness  on  the  part  of  the  feudal  nobility, 
lay  and  spiritual,  at  last  recognizes  that  no  labour  is  so 
inefficient  as  unfree  labour.  With  the  dying  down  of 
tribal  wars  trade  arises,  population  increases,  though  but 
slowly,  productivity  becomes  more  necessary  as  needs 
become  greater.  Wealth  in  things  other  than  land  and 
cattle  casts  its  spell  over  mankind.  Labour  begins  to 
occupy,  in  the  mass,  a  position  of  some  importance.  As 
labour  becomes  more  of  a  necessity  those  who  labour 
and  who  once  were  rightless  begin  to  have  rights.  The 
existence  of  the  labourer  as  a  man  is  recognized. 

19 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

But  with  that  recognition,  though  man  slowly  begins  to 
shake  himself  free  of  the  domination  of  man,  he  falls  for 
a  time  into  the  position  of  the  slave  of  circumstance.  The 
slave,  the  serf,  the  bondmen  of  the  past  have  now  their 
liberty  and  with  that  liberty  arises  poverty.  The  unfree 
had  been  secured  in  the  necessities  of  life.  They  received 
food  and  clothing  and  shelter.  Now,  though  they  had 
gained  freedom  from  human  control,  they  had  not  won 
control  over  their  needs. 

Coincident  with  this  change  in  the  status  of  the  masses, 
the  weathering  process  was  continuing  among  the  moun- 
tains. The  English  had  invented  Parliament.  The  way 
was  open  for  the  change  from  absolute  monarchy  to 
democracy  ;  but  that  stage  was  not  quickly  reached,  even 
to-day  it  has  not  been  universally  reached.  But  we  have 
at  least  experienced  those  lesser  graduations,  aristocracy 
and  plutocracy. 

The  mountains  were  being  worn  down,  the  valleys  were 
filling  up,  but  still  the  masses  were  surrounded  by  mani- 
fold miseries.  Doubtless,  to  those  generations  their  lives 
seemed  tolerable  enough.  Surrounded  though  they  were 
with  uncertainties,  sunk  in  ignorance,  born  to  heavy  toil, 
they  were  often  happy,  for  their  imaginations  were  numbed, 
their  wants  small,  their  ambitions  few.  They  plodded. 
It  is  only  we  who  have  a  century  of  fair  government  to 
look  back  upon,  who  live  in  an  age  in  which  men  and 
women  can  find  scope  for  their  abilities,  and  who  have 
seen  the  general  aspect  of  the  world  more  changed  for 
the  better  than  in  all  the  years  that  passed  before,  who 
can  realize  how  gravely  progress  has  been  retarded  by 
the  evils  and  the  folhes  of  past  ages. 

With  the  freeing  of  the  serf,  with  the  coming  of  poverty, 
some  of  the  problems  with  which  we  are  to-day  conversant 
began  to  assume  an  acute  form.  The  next,  and  even  more 
important,  change  occurred  with  what  we  hereafter  term 
the  Agrarian  and  Industrial  Revolutions. 

It  is  only  within  comparatively  recent  years  that  the 
masses  have  been  either  landless  or  organized  in  industry. 
20 


PROLOGUE 

It  is  also  a  modern  phenomenon  to  find  the  masses  so 
numerous  that  the  land  in  which  they  live  is  unable  to 
supply  them  with  sufficient  food  and  in  which  the  conditions 
of  life  of  the  majority  are  so  favourable  that  the  consumption 
of  goods  demands  intense  productivity.  Until,  at  earliest, 
the  sixteenth  century,  if  we  regard  Europe  alone,  agri- 
culture was  by  far  the  greatest  industry.  Under  the 
feudal  system,  and  for  some  centuries  after  it  had  begun 
to  decline,  the  land-worker  was  not  simply  an  agricultural 
labourer,  he  was  also  a  peasant  proprietor.  Industry 
was  not  organized.  Trade  and  commerce  were  in  their 
infancy.     The  population  was  small. 

Of  the  changes  which  came  over  society  with  the  Agrarian 
and  Industrial  Revolutions  we  shall  speak  at  length  hereafter. 
It  has  sometimes  been  represented  that  the  position  of 
the  worker  after  those  revolutions  was  worse  than  before. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  fundamental  alterations  that 
were  then  made  in  the  whole  fabric  of  society  bore  very  hardly 
upon  many  industrious  men  and  women.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  the  birth  of  the  modern  industrial  system  caused 
much  suffering  to  the  generations  in  which  it  occurred. 
He  would,  however,  be  adventurous  who  attempted  to 
sustain  the  view  that  the  lot  of  the  masses  in  the  seventeenth 
century  was  in  any  way  the  equal  of  that  to  which  they  have 
attained  in  the  twentieth  century;  we  would  go  further  and 
say  that  it  is  plain  that  even  as  most  of  our  problems  have 
arisen  from  the  revolutions  of  the  eighteenth  century,  so 
also  have  most  of  the  industrial  advantages  which  the 
working  classes  to-day  possess. 

The  period  of  which  we  now  write  under  the  title  *  The 
Past '  is  intended  to  embrace  historic  times  up  to  the 
development  of  representative  government  on  a  popular 
basis.  We  are  not  concerned  with  dates,  as  we  view  the 
general  trend  of  events  not  only  in  England,  but  in  foreign 
countries  also.  It  is  manifest,  however,  from  a  general 
survey  of  political  institutions  that  the  dividing  line  was 
laid  down  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  By 
that  time  the  masses  had  become  something  more  than 

21 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

amorphous  masses.  They  had  been  drawn  together  by 
the  fact  of  contiguity,  by  manifest  wrongs,  by  the  slow 
spread  of  education,  and  by  the  existence,  at  first  secret 
and  later  open,  of  widespread  organizations.  Even  before 
they  had  attained  the  vote  they  were  beginning  to  possess 
political  power.  Once  that  stage  was  reached  the  way  was 
open. 

To-day  the  masses  are  as  powerful  politically  as  they 
care  to  be.  Their  very  powerfulness  induces  other  prob- 
lems, some  of  which  are  grave.  It  will  be  the  purpose  of 
the  later  parts  of  this  book  to  consider  the  nature  of  those 
problems.  One  thing,  however,  we  say  at  the  outset. 
All  history  shows  with  signs  clear  enough  for  all  to  see, 
will  they  but  look,  that  most  of  the  sorrows  of  mankind 
have  been  caused  by  thrusting  understanding  on  one  side 
and  by  relying  on  superstition  and  violence.  Ignorance, 
ambition,  and  violence,  what  evils  have  they  not  dragged 
in  their  train  ?  The  myriads  that  have  suffered  those 
evils  are  dead.  We  are  alive.  It  is  for  the  living  to  see 
that  not  the  ignorance,  not  the  ambition,  not  the  violence 
of  a  man,  or  a  class,  or  a  race  shall  again  deflect  the  course  of 
progress,  but  that  men  shall  at  last  be  ruled  by  reason, 
that  propositions  of  vital  importance  to  the  generality  of 
men  shall  be  accepted  only  when  acceptable  to  the  good 
sense  of  the  majority.  If  that  be  not  so,  then  all  sense  is 
dead  and  those  are  right  who  say  man  rises  only  to  fall. 


22 


CHAPTER   I 

^  THE   UNFREE 

READ  no  history,  nothing  but  biography,  for 
that  is  life  without  theory."  With  those  words 
.Contarini  Fleming  dismisses  as  worthless  any 
attempt  to  depict  the  history  of  the  masses,  for  biography 
concerns  itself  only  with  the  most  eminent  of  men.  But 
is  '  life  '  composed  of  the  doings  of  the  eminent  ?  Is 
it  desirable  that,  to  paraphrase  the  words  of  Mr  and  Mrs 
Hammond,  a  hundred  should  know  everything  about  the 
scenes  of  high  politics  and  high  play  that  formed  the 
exciting  world  of  the  upper  classes  in  the  eighteenth 
century  for  every  one  who  knows  anything  about  the 
Agrarian  Revolution  which  so  vitally  affected  the  lives  of 
the  people  in  that  century  ?     We  think  not. 

As  Macaulay  once  observed,  the  historian  too  frequently 
has  been  content  to  resign  to  others  some  of  the  most 
important  of  his  duties. 

To  make  the  past  present,  to  bring  the  distant  near,  to  place 
us  in  the  society  of  a  great  man  or  on  the  eminence  which  over- 
looks the  field  of  a  mighty  battle,  to  invest  with  the  reality  of 
human  flesh  and  blood  beings  whom  we  are  too  much  inclined 
to  consider  as  personified  qualities  in  an  allegory,  to  call  up  our 
ancestors  before  us  with  all  their  peculiarities  of  language, 
manners,  and  garb,  to  show  us  over  their  houses,  to  seat  us 
at  their  tables,  to  rummage  their  old-fashioned  wardrobes,  to 
explain  the  uses  of  their  ponderous  furniture,  these  parts  of  the 
duty  which  properly  belongs  to  the  historian  have  been  appro- 
priated by  the  historical  novelist.  On  the  other  hand,  to  extract 
the  philosophy  of  history,  to  direct  our  judgment  of  events  and 
men,  to  trace  the  connexion  of  causes  and  eflFects,  and  to   draw 

23 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  , 

from  the  occurrences  of  former  times  general  lessons  of  moral 
and  political  wisdom,  has  become  the  business  of  a  distinct  class 
of  writers. 

We  know  not,  indeed,  within  what  category  our  present 
story  falls,  for  though  history  may  be  defined  as  the  story 
expressive  of  the  experiences  and  conditions  of  social  units, 
the  story  as  usually  told  descends  not  to  the  servants'  halls. 
We  are  permitted  to  overhear  the  whispers  of  the  court 
and  council  chambers  and  follow  the  victorious  general, 
but  our  historians  so  often  regard  mankind  from  the 
eminence  of  the  throne,  are  so  commonly  dazzled  by  the 
splendour  of  great  names,  and  are  led  aside  so  frequently 
by  the  glowing  sentences  of  highly-placed  orators  or 
courtly  chroniclers,  that  we,  reading  the  resulting  story, 
almost  forget  that  the  social  units  whose  experiences  and 
conditions  they  are  depicting  were  composed  almost  entirely 
of  homely  men  and  women  and  children,  who  toiled  and 
struggled  and  at  length  died,  having  left  nothing  but  their 
deeds  to  speak  for  them  to  posterity.  And  yet  we  to-day 
are  the  descendants  of  those  men  and  women  who  through 
the  centuries  have  trod  their  humble  path  and  passed  by. 
Our  present  rights  and  duties,  our  benefits  and  our  diffi- 
culties form  the  legacy  which  they  have  left  to  us.  It  is, 
therefore,  worth  pausing  awhile,  even  amid  our  present 
anxieties,  to  look  backward,  not  upon  the  hero  or  the 
demigod,  but  upon  the  ordinary  man. 

The  history  of  the  working  man,  broadly  viewed,  shows, 
despite  relapses  sometimes  extending  over  centuries  and 
connected  always  with  war  or  the  breakdown  of  centralized 
governments,  a  general  upward  tendency.  The  words 
Thou  shah  and  Thou  shah  not^  given  at  first  by  man  (whether 
prophet  or  priest  or  prince)  to  man  tend  to  be  given  by 
men  to  man,  and  with  that  change  freedom  arises.  As 
the  trend  of  society  is  from  status  to  contract,  so  the  trend 
of  the  political  framework  of  society  is  from  despotism  to 
democracy,  and  thus  the  sword  is  placed  in  the  hands  of 
justice. 

24 


THE    UNFREE 

Slavery 

A  history  of  the  ordinary  man,  however  slight  and 
imperfect  it  may  be,  must  therefore  commence  with  a 
consideration  of  the  lowest  status,  and  work  upward.  It 
must  visualize  man  as  marching  upward  to  the  heights, 
not  as  sliding  downward  to  the  abyss.  Thus  our  story 
commences  with  the  slave,  a  status  as  old  as  human  nature 
and  based  in  origin  upon  the  simple  desire  "to  use,"  in  the 
words  of  a  Victorian,  "  the  bodily  powers  of  another  person 
as  a  means  of  ministering  to  one's  own  ease  or  pleasure." 

As  Sir  Henry  Maine  pointed  out  many  years  ago  : 

There  seems  to  be  something  in  the  institution  of  Slavery  which 
has  at  all  times  either  shocked  or  perplexed  mankind,  however 
little  habituated  to  reflection,  and  however  slightly  advanced  in 
the  cultivation  of  its  moral  instincts.  The  compunction  which 
ancient  communities  almost  unconsciously  experienced  appears  to 
have  always  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  some  imaginary  principle 
upon  which  a  defence,  or  at  least  a  rationale,  of  slavery  could  be 
plausibly  founded.  Very  early  in  their  history  the  Greeks  ex- 
plained the  institution  as  grounded  on  the  intellectual  inferiority 
of  certain  races,  and  their  consequent  natural  aptitude  for  the 
servile  condition.  The  Romans,  in  a  spirit  equally  charac- 
teristic, derived  it  from  a  supposed  agreement  between  the  victor 
and  the  vanquished,  in  which  the  first  stipulated  for  the  perpetual 
services  of  his  foe,  and  the  other  gained  in  consideration  the  life 
which  he  had  legitimately  forfeited.  Such  theories  were  not  only 
unsound,  but  plainly  unequal  to  the  case  for  which  they  affected 
to  account.  Still  they  exercised  powerful  influence  in  many  ways. 
They  satisfied  the  conscience  of  the  Master.  They  perpetuated, 
and  probably  increased,  the  debasement  of  the  Slave.  And  they 
naturally  tended  to  put  out  of  sight  the  relation  in  which  servitude 
had  originally  stood  to  the  rest  of  the  domestic  system.^ 

If  we  look  at  a  civilization  even  more  ancient  than  the 
Greek,  we  see  among  the  Hebrews  signs  of  a  form  of  slavery 
which  shows  this  relationship  much  more  clearly.  The 
Hebrews,  indeed,  did  not  at  first  recognize  what  may  be 
termed  compulsory  and    perpetual  slavery.     The  stranger 

^  Ancient  Law. 

25 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

who  would  come  within  the  family  could  be  bound,  but 
the  binding  was  only  for  seven  years,  and  the  bondman 
had  rights.  Perpetual  bondage  could  only  be  by  the 
consent  and  desire  of  the  slave  publicly  expressed.  Even 
among  the  early  Romans  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
the  slave  was  hardly  more  a  *  thing  '  than  was  the  son. 
The  tendency  of  the  Roman  law — a  tendency  checked,  it  is 
true,  by  the  development  of  the  Law  of  Nature — was  to 
assimilate  the  slave  more  and  more  to  a  chattel,  and  by  so 
doing  to  divest  him  more  and  more,  not  only  of  rights,  but 
also  of  duties. 

The  Roman  Slave 

The  legal  position  of  the  slave  and  his  lord,  dominus,  or 
master  was  worked  out  by  the  lawyers  of  Rome  more 
completely  than  by  other  people,  and  it  is,  therefore,  of  the 
slaves  of  Rome,  of  the  time  of  the  Empire,  that  we  shall 
particularly  speak.  As  we  have  seen,  in  the  view  of  the 
Roman  jurists  the  status  of  slave  was  based  upon  capture 
in  battle.  According  to  the  law  of  war  developed  by  the 
early  philosophical  lawyers,  the  right  to  kill  the  defeated 
enemy  was  part  of  the  law  of  nations  common  to  all  peoples. 
It  was  consequently  urged  that  to  spare  the  defeated  enemy 
by  saving  his  life  and  using  it  was  both  merciful  and 
expedient.  The  very  word  servus  was  derived  from  the 
idea  of  saving  life,  and  in  no  way  denoted  an  inferiority 
either  of  intelligence  or  of  blood. 

The  Slave  a  Thing 

Once  a  slave,  a  person  remained  a  slave  until  freed.  He 
or  she  could  be  sold,  exchanged,  given  away,  left  by  will, 
abandoned,  or  seized.  The  slave  could  be  the  subject 
of  both  legal  and  equitable  ownership.  A  person  could 
possess  a  usufruct  in  a  slave.  In  a  word,  the  slave  was  a 
person  without  rights;  he  was  also  without  legal  duties, 
that  is  to  say,  duties  which  could  be  enforced  against  him. 
A  man  in  Rome  could  avoid  payment  of  all  his  debts  by 
becoming  a  slave,  and  if  he  were  subsequently  freed  the 
26 


THE    UNFREE 

liability  for  his  debts  would  not  revive.  No  judgment 
against  a  slave  would  be  effective.  His  status  was  almost 
that  of  a  thing,  but  a  thing  capable  of  being  turned  into  a 
human  being,  a  human  persona^  by  the  act  of  freeing  called 
manumission  or  emancipation. 

The  Power  of  the  Master 

Under  the  Republic,  as  distinct  from  the  Empire,  the 
master's  powers  were  unlimited,  but  it  was  potestas  rather 
than  dominium — that  is  to  say,  the  master's  control  over  the 
slave  approximated  to  the  father's  power  over  the  son. 
In  both  cases  it  amounted  to  the  power  of  life  and  death. 
In  neither  case  is  it  probable  that  there  was  in  the  general 
case  serious  cruelty.  In  the  early  days  of  Rome  the  supply 
of  slaves  was  restricted,  the  slave  was  a  valuable  and  useful 
thing,  and  the  human  intercourse  between  master  and  slave 
was  much  closer  than  that  which  existed  in  the  time  of 
the  Empire.  The  result  was  that  although  the  master's 
powers  were  of  the  widest  description  the  abuse  of  those 
powers  was  rare.  With  the  vast  increase  in  the  number 
of  slaves,  the  enormous  growth  of  domestic  establishments 
and  estates,  and  the  decline  in  the  standard  of  private  life 
which  occurred  under  the  Empire,  the  case  was  reversed  ; 
the  master's  powers  at  law  were  more  limited,  the  oppression 
of  the  slave  increased. 

At  no  time,  however,  were  the  master's  powers  suddenly 
limited.  The  old  power  of  life  and  death  and  of  unlimited 
cruelty  and  punishment  was  bitten  into  little  by  little. 
Before  the  end  of  the  first  century  a.d.  masters  had  been 
forbidden  to  send  their  slaves  to  fight  with  wild  beasts  as 
a  punishment  unless  a  magistrate  had  approved,  Claudius 
granted  automatic  freedom  to  slaves  who,  being  ill,  were 
exposed  and  abandoned  by  their  masters  in  order  to  avoid 
the  trouble  and  expense  of  having  them  cured.  Both 
Domitian  and  Hadrian  legislated  against  the  emasculation 
of  slaves,  and  the  latter  abolished  private  prisons  and 
forbade  the  sale  of  slaves  of  either  sex  to  gladiatorial  pro- 
moters, and  severely  punished  a  woman  who  was  in  the 

27 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

habit  of  torturing  her  slaves.  Antoninus  Pius  made  it 
homicide  for  a  master  to  kill  his  slave,  and  established  the 
rule  whereby  if  slaves  suffering  either  cruelty  or  infamous 
injury  fled  to  the  temples  of  the  gods  or  the  statue  of  the 
Emperor  they  could  obtain  sanctuary  and  on  inquiry 
be  sold  to  a  kinder  master.  By  the  time  of  Justinian  it 
would,  indeed,  appear  that  the  master's  power  over  the  body 
of  his  slave  was  limited  to  reasonable  chastisement. 

Notwithstanding  these  progressive  limitations  of  the 
master's  power,  the  legal  situation  of  the  slave  was  through- 
out the  Empire  period  sufficiently  low.  The  slave  had  no 
political  status.  A  slave  who  enrolled  himself  in  the  legions, 
or  who  aspired  to  enter  the  decurionate  of  any  town,  com- 
mitted a  criminal  offence,  and  in  the  former  case  a  capital 
offence.  Slaves  were,  however,  largely  used  as  c'vil  servants 
in  clerical  work. 

Collegia 

Not  belonging  to  a  Roman  gens,  the  slaves  were  to  a 
considerable  extent  excluded  from  the  worship  of  Roman 
deities.  They  had,  however,  their  own  cult — that  of 
Diana — and  with  the  introduction  of  Christianity  came 
within  that  Church.  It  had,  of  course,  been  realized  ages 
before  that  slaves  were  human  beings,  and  as  such  might 
hope  for  a  life  hereafter,  and  consequently  were  to  be 
regarded  as  entitled  to  a  suitable  burial. 

One  consequence  of  the  burial  customs  which  grew 
up  was,  we  have  reason  to  believe,  the  development  of 
the  ancient  collegia,  or  friendly  societies,  which,  with  the 
master's  consent,  the  slave  was  permitted  to  join.  Such 
societies  provided  free  burial  for  members,  and  were  social 
communities  bearing  some  similarity  to  the  later  and  distinct 
social  gilds.  Normally  it  would  appear,  if  the  evidence  of 
the  tombstones  is  to  be  accepted  as  expressing  the  normal, 
that  masters  frequently  interred  in  a  suitable  manner  the 
corpses  of  their  slaves;  but  we  gather  from  the  ordinances 
of  the  collegium  of  Lanuvium  that  the  society  found  it 
necessary  to  ordain  that  if  the  master  refused  to  hand 
28 


THE    UNFREE 

over  the  slave's  body  for  burial  the  proper  rites  were  to  be 
gone  through  without  the  body. 

The  Slave's  Disabilities 

Death,  indeed,  removed  the  stain  of  slavery,  but  in  life 
it  was  always  present  to  fetter  and  degrade  the  slave  in 
every  form  of  activity.  The  slave  could  not  accuse  ;  he 
could  only  inform.  If  he  informed  against  his  master, 
Constantine  ordered  that  in  all  cases  he  should  be 
crucified  unheard.  If  the  slave's  evidence  was  required 
it  was  obtained  by  torture,  the  degree  of  the  torture  being 
determined  by  the  court.  If  in  a  criminal  case  the  evi- 
dence of  the  slave  of  one  who  was  not  a  party  to  the  pro- 
ceedings was  required,  such  {slave  was  tortured,  but 
security  had  to  be  given  to  the  owner  to  make  up  for 
the  loss  in  value  thus  caused.  Torture  was  not  permitted 
to  kill. 

If  a  master  was  slain,  or  even  if  he  committed  suicide, 
the  most  ferocious  punishments  were  meted  out  to  all  the 
slaves  who  might  perchance  have  been  able  to  prevent  the 
death.  By  an  old  custom,  confirmed  by  Nero,  if  a  slave 
had  killed  the  master  all  the  slaves  in  the  house  were  put  to 
death.  By  a  later  law  all  the  slaves  might  be  tortured  until 
the  criminal  was  discovered,  whereupon  he  alone  was  put 
to  death.  But  if  it  appeared  that  the  crime  could  or  might 
have  been  prevented  by  a  slave,  that  slave  also  was  put  to 
death,  for,  as  Hadrian  said,  "  slaves  must  prefer  their 
master's  safety  to  their  own."  If  a  slave  under  torture 
disclosed  something  against  his  master,  such  disclosure 
was  not  received  as  evidence. 

The  slave  could  not  marry,  and  could  not  have 
descendants.  He  could,  of  course,  cohabit  with  a  woman 
and  have  children,  but  in  the  eye  of  the  law  she  was  not 
his  wife,  and  they  were  not  his  children.  Such  children 
followed  the  condition  of  the  mother  in  the  normal  case. 
Thus,  where  a  business  manager  employed  in  a  town  was 
left  to  a  legatee,  the  Roman  jurist  Paul  was  of  opinion 
that  the  testator  could  not  have  intended  the  legacy  to 

29 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

include  the  thing's  {i.e..,  the  business  manager's)  *  wife  '  and 
'children.' 

Out  of  these  and  similar  rules  great  difficulties  arose, 
for  although  the  slave  was   almost  a  rightless  thing,  the 
circumstances  of  his  life,  if  he  were  owned  by  a  benignant 
master,   might   be  very  pleasant.      The  line  of  cleavage 
between  free  and  unfree  in  no  way  coincided  with  that 
between  the  learned  and  unlearned,  or  between  the  Latin 
and  non-Latin,  or  between  the  leisured  and  the  labouring 
classes.     Slaves  were  not  merely  engaged  in   manual  or 
menial    employments.      They    were    the    craftsmen,    the 
musicians,  the  commercial  men  of  Rome.     Their  duties 
were   the   most   diverse.      Banking,    which    flourished    in 
Rome,   was  carried  on  almost  entirely  under  the  super- 
vision of  slaves.     Many  of  the  duties  which  now  fall  to 
the  higher  division  of  the  Civil  Service  were  carried  out 
by  slaves.      Doctors,   philosophers,   grammarians,   school- 
masters, land  agents — these  were  some  of  the  professions 
in  which  slaves  were  engaged.     Many  were  men  of  the 
highest    culture.     To    give    but    one    example,    Epictetus 
was  a  slave.     Nor  was  there  anything  in   their  outward 
appearance  to  differentiate  them   from  free  men,   though 
in  the  later  period  certain  sumptuary  restrictions  did  exist. 
Many  slaves  were  Romans  (or  at  least  Latins)  by  birth 
or  by  speech  ;    their  clothes  were  often  finer  than  those 
worn  by  free  men.     They  frequently  lived  delicately.     As 
a  result  it  occasionally  happened  that  free  men  and  free 
women  married  slaves  by  mistake,  so  that  Claudius  found  it 
necessary  to  declare  that  if  a  free  man  had  a  child  by  a  slave 
woman  whom  he  had  married,  thinking  her  free,  the  child 
should  be  free.     In  the  medieval  period  similar  difficulties 
arose  with  regard  to  the  status  of  the  children  of  serfs,  and 
we  shall  see  how  the  feudal  lawyers  dealt  with  the  problem. 
We  have  spoken  of  the  slave  as  being  a  thing  without 
rights.     In  substance  this  is  correct.     Indeed,  it  is  only 
when  we  turn  to  the  law  relating  to  defamation  that  we 
perceive  any  recognition  of  the  right  residing  in  the  man 
or  woman  as  such  to  claim  legal  protection.     An  action 

30 


J 


THE    UNFREE 

did  lie,  quite  apart  from  the  master,  if  the  slave  was 
insulted.  The  slave  also  was,  as  we  have  indicated,  given 
a  certain  measure  of  protection,  but  this  protection  pro- 
ceeded, as  did  the  protection  afforded  to  serfs,  rather 
from  those  principles  of  public  propriety,  such  as  to-day 
forbid  cruelty  to  animals,  than  from  any  right  residing  in 
the  thing  itself. 

Even  a  regard  for  public  propriety  would  not  appear 
to  have  resulted  in  any  protection  being  afforded  to  the 
morals  of  the  slaves,  except  that  the  ancilla  could  fly  to 
sanctuary  in  defence  of  her  honour.  It  was  not  until  the 
fifth  century  that  procurers  were  forbidden  to  buy  women 
for  prostitution,  and  although  an  owner  might  have  a 
remedy  if  the  morals  of  his  woman  slave  were  violated, 
the  woman  herself  had  no  remedy.  The  master  could  do 
what  he  would,  the  woman  could  but  flee  to  sanctuary, 
and  then  would  merely  be  transferred  to  another  master. 
So  low  was  the  state  of  morality  in  the  Empire  that  this 
was  a  protection  of  little  value. 

The  Slave  a  Power 

Despite  these  enormous  disabilities  and  this  complete 

degradation  of  status,  the  slave  was  a  power.    As  Professor 

Buckland  has  said  : 

It  is  hardly  an  exaggeration  to  say  that,  in  the  age  of  the 
classical  lawyers,  Roman  commerce  was  mainly  in  the  hands  of 
slaves.  The  commercial  importance  of  different  slaves  would,  of 
course,  vary  gready.  The  body-servant,  the  farm-labourer,  the 
coachman,  have  no  importance  in  this  connexion,  and  there  were 
many  degrees  between  their  position  and  that  of  a  dtspensator  or 
steward,  who  seems  often  to  have  been  allowed  almost  a  free 
hand.  ...  A  slave  might  carry  on  a  bank,  with  or  without 
orders,  the  master's  rights  varying  according  as  it  was  or  was 
not  with  the  pecultum.^  A  slave  might  be  a  member  of  a  firm, 
and  his  master's  notice  to  him,  without  notice  to  the  other  party, 

^  I.e.,  money  and  goods  which  the  slave  was  permitted  personally  to 
enjoy  and  keep  for  himself,  unless  and  until  the  master  claimed  it — a  right 
which  the  master  rarely  exercised,  for  we  frequently  find  slaves  trading  with 
their  peculium  and  purchasing  their  freedom  with  it,  etc. 

31 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

would  not  end  the  partnership.  Even  sale  of  the  slave  would  not, 
in  fact,  end  the  firm  :  the  new  master  would  acquire  the  rights 
from  the  date  of  transfer,  though  as  a  slave's  faculty  is  purely 
derivative  the  firm  would  be  technically  a  new  one.^ 

This  position  was  achieved  by  the  slave  chiefly  in 
consequence  of  the  recognition  of  two  principles  :  (i)  the 
fact  that  the  slave  might  be  the  agent  of  his  master  ;  and 
(2)  the  fact  that  a  slave  might  de  facto  possess  peculium. 

The  Slave  in  Commerce 

One  of  the  most  interesting  facts  connected  with  the 
Roman  law  of  slavery  is  to  be  found  in  a  development  of 
the  Roman  system  of  agency.  Unlike  modern  societies, 
the  Roman  Empire  never  invented  the  limited  liability 
company.  The  Romans  did  not  distinguish,  as  we  do,  or 
at  least,  not  to  the  same  extent,  between  the  personality  of 
the  individuals  forming  a  body  corporate  and  the  body 
corporate  itself.  The  conception  of  the  liability  of  the 
shareholders  being  limited  to  the  amount  of  their  share- 
holding therefore  escaped  them,  but  they  achieved  a  very 
similar  result  in  an  entirely  different  manner.  The  owner, 
who  had  a  legal  personality  in  civil  law,  could  entrust  a 
sum  of  money  to  his  slave,  who  had  no  personality  in 
civil,  but  only  in  natural,  law  to  carry  on  business.  The 
slave  could  then  trade  with  that  capital,  and  the  liability 
of  the  owner  was  limited  to  the  sum  of  money  thus  laid 
out ;  for  the  slave,  though  he  could  act  as  the  owner's 
agent,  did  not  so  act  in  the  modern  sense.  He  could  not 
make  the  master  liable  ;  he  could,  so  to  speak,  only  charge 
the  amount  entrusted  to  him  as  agent.  The  owner  could 
at  any  time  wind  up  the  concern  by  withdrawing  the  capital 
adventured,  subject,  of  course,  to  the  settlement  of  the 
charges  on  such  capital  to  the  extent  of  the  capital  invested. 
The  owner's  liability  was  thus  limited  to  the  sum  risked, 
even  as  to-day  the  shareholder's  liability  is  limited  by  the 
extent  of  his  holding.  The  development  of  this  principle 
of  limited  liability,  which  was  completed  in  the  later  period 

^  The  Roman  Law  of  Slavery. 
32 


THE    UNFREE 

of  the  Empire,  saw  an  enormous  increase  in  the  number  of 
businesses  financed  by  free  capitaUsts  and  managed  by  slaves. 

The  Decline  of  the  Roman  Empire 

The  break-up  of  the  Roman  Empire,  which  occurred 
at  different  times  in  the  different  parts  of  that  Empire, 
but  which  may  be  assigned  with  sufficient  accuracy  to  the 
fifth  century,  saw  a  fundamental  change  take  place  in  the 
whole  structure  of  European  society.  The  strong  centrali- 
zation of  the  Roman  state,  before  which  all  subjects  who 
were  legal  -persons  were  equal,  was  shattered  into  a  thousand 
fragments.  Society  was  now  grouped  into  a  number  of 
ascending  hierarchies  terminating,  it  may  be,  in  either 
king,  emperor,  pope,  or  even  God  Almighty,  according 
as  we  look  at  this  or  that  fragment.  Government  is 
largely  decentralized,  so  that  instead  of  society  circling 
round  Caesar,  it  becomes  a  smaller,  localized  thing  centring 
round  a  chief  or,  later,  a  manorial  lord.  For  a  moment 
there  is  almost  a  return  to  that  family  or  tribal  form  of 
society  from  which  the  empire  of  the  Caesars  had  shaken 
free  long  centuries  before.  Under  the  pressure  of  external 
and  internal  forces,  dimly  perceivable,  the  common  man 
was  compelled  to  exchange  his  tribal  rights  for  the  position 
of  the  vassal  of  an  overlord.  The  feudal  system,  based  on 
land  ownership,  grew  up  in  France  and  in  England,  and 
indeed  in  most  of  the  European  states,  in  a  manner  not 
vitally  different  from  the  system  of  chief  and  man  based 
upon  livestock  ownership  which  we  find  existing  in  ancient 
Ireland — a  country  which  was  hardly  affected  at  all  by 
the  Roman  civilization.  Both  systems  were  in  essence 
due,  on  the  one  hand,  to  the  imperious  necessity  of  pro- 
curing and  preserving  instruments  for  the  cultivation  of 
land,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  to  the  need  felt  by  the 
ordinary  man  for  protection. 

Throughout  the  early  part  of  that  period  which  in 
France  is  always  spoken  of  as  the  era  of  the  barbarian 
invasions,  but  which  we  refer  to  rather  more  gently  as  the 
Saxon  period,  there  was  a  thriving  slave-trade  in  existence 

c  33 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

in  all  the  countries  of  Western  Europe.  Capture  in  war, 
capture  by  raids — these  were  then  the  means  of  obtaining 
slaves,  even  as  to-day  they  are  the  means  pursued  by  the 
Arab  slave-dealers  of  North  Africa.  The  traffic  in  slaves, 
once  captured,  was  perfectly  open.  The  sale  of  wives  was 
one  of  the  most  important  forms  of  trade  carried  on  in 
the  ancient  markets.  Peoples  used  to  the  sight  of  the 
cages  in  which  women  were  exposed  for  sale  in  the  slave 
markets  of  Rome  could  have  seen  little  that  was  revolting 
or  wrong  in  such  a  traffic.  Many  of  the  captured  were 
exported.  Thus  Irish  slaves  would  find  a  ready  market 
in  France,  and  British  slaves  in  Ireland,  and  so  on.  As 
in  Rome,  so  in  early  England  the  distinction  between 
free  and  unfree  in  no  way  corresponded  to  the  modern 
division  into  the  leisured  and  labouring  classes.  Many 
slaves  had  very  light  duties,  while  many  free  men  laboured 
incessantly.  In  the  main,  however,  the  slave  of  the  Saxon 
period  was  engaged  in  the  lowest  forms  of  labour. 

In  the  days  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  agriculture 
was  not  merely  the  main,  it  was  almost  the  sole,  form  of 
industry.  Trade  was  extremely  small,  and  was  limited  to 
comparatively  few  places.  The  ordinary  bartering  of  the 
countryside  was  done  exclusively  at  fairs  and  markets  or 
by  chapmen  (pedlars).  The  class  of  shopkeepers  did  not 
arise  for  many  centuries,  those  who  sold  being  also  those 
who  made.  The  state  of  society  was  simple,  and  the  vast 
majority  of  what  we  should  call  the  working  classes  were 
labourers  in  husbandry.  Society,  as  it  became  more  stable, 
was  composed  of  two  main  divisions,  the  lord  and  the 
tenant,  the  tenants  being  sometimes  free,  but  usually 
unfree.  The  unfree  tended  more  and  more  to  become 
identified  with  the  serf.  Slavery,  in  the  strict  sense,  early 
died  out.     Serfdom  lasted  until  comparatively  recent  times. 

The  Serf 

Bracton,  one  of  the  fathers  of  English  law,  writing  in 
the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  adopts  the  Roman 
law  phrase,  "  All  men  are  either  free  or  slaves,"  but  Jus 
34 


THE    UNFREE       , 

servus  is  really  our  serf.  By  his  time,  and  perhaps  four 
centuries  before,  the  feudal  system  was  complete  in  all 
essential  particulars.  The  serf  and  the  slave  differed 
vitally,  for  although  the  serf  had  an  owner,  and  although  as 
against  that  owner  he  was  little  more  than  a  chattel,  as 
against  the  rest  of  the  world  the  serf,  unlike  the  slave,  had 
almost  as  extensive  rights  and  duties  as  a  free  man. 

The  serf,  villein,  naif  (or  native),  may  be  regarded  as 
interchangeable  terms  and  were  all  the  product  of  feudalism. 
They  must  not  be  confused  with  the  considerable  number 
of  free  men  who  held  their  lands  in  villeinage,  i.e.,  a  form 
of  tenure,  protected  not  by  the  king's  court,  but  by  the 
lord's  court,  whereby  the  tenant  held  at  will,  or  sometimes 
for  a  term  of  years,  and  undertook  as  a  rule  in  return  for  his 
holding  certain  lowly  personal  services.  Tenure  by  villeinage 
must,  on  the  other  hand,  be  kept  distinct  from  free  tenure, 
which  was  not  tenure  at  will  or  for  a  term  of  years,  but 
which  was  held  in  return  for  services  of  a  higher  nature 
and  was  protected  by  the  king's  court  and  not  merely 
by  the  manorial  court  of  the  lord  of  whom  the  tenant 
held.  Villein  tenure  was  the  precursor  of  the  copyhold 
system  of  to-day.  Free  tenure  was  the  origin  of  the  free- 
hold of  modern  times.  Both  forms  of  holding  could  be 
obtained  by  free  men.  Neither  amounted  to  ownership. 
Both  are  a  product  of  feudalism,  without  some  knowledge 
of  which  system  it  is  almost  impossible  to  comprehend  the 
relationship  of  man  to  man  in  the  medieval  period. 

The  Feudal  System 

We  are  here  confronted  with  a  very  obvious  difficulty. 
The  feudal  system  was  at  no  time  constant,  and  changed 
substantially  century  by  century,  almost  decade  by  decade. 
It  was  a  highly  complex  and  technical  congeries  of  law  and 
custom,  and  varied  country  by  country.  It  has  been  the 
subject  of  almost  countless  analyses.  Around  it  has 
sprung  up  a  vast  mass  of  specialized  learning.  It  is 
therefore  apparent  that  any  outline  must  be  very  imperfect. 
Highly  technical  as  the  subject  is,  it  is  not  possible  to  express 

35 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

with  accuracy  the  nature  of  feudaHsm  without  using  terms 
which  are  not  easily  comprehensible  to  those  unacquainted 
with  the  subject.  We  therefore  can  describe  only  in 
broadest  outline,  and  in  a  manner  necessarily  imperfect, 
this  system  which  occupied  such  an  imposing  place  in 
the  social  history  of  Europe. 
'  As  Sir  Frederick  Pollock  and  the  late  Professor  Maitland 
well  said  : 

The  impossible  task  that  has  been  set  before  the  word  feudalism 
is  that  of  making  a  single  idea  represent  a  very  large  piece  of  the 
world's  history,  represent  the  France,  Italy,  Germany,  England 
of  every  century  from  the  eighth  or  ninth  to  the  fourteenth  or 
fifteenth.  Shall  we  say  that  French  feudalism  reached  its  zenith 
under  Louis  d'Outre-Mer  or  under  Saint  Louis,  that  William 
of  Normandy  introduced  feudalism  into  England  or  saved  England 
from  feudalism,  that  Bracton  is  the  greatest  of  English  feudists, 
or  that  he  never  misses  an  opportunity  of  showing  a  strong  anti- 
feudal  bias  ?  It  would  be  possible  to  maintain  all  or  any  of  these 
opinions,  so  vague  is  our  use  of  the  term  in  question.^ 

Everything  shifts,  everything  changes. 

The  central  idea,  however,  consists  in  the  fact  that  all 
the  land  of  the  realm  is  owned  by  the  king.  He  has  the 
sole  right  of  receiving  tenants,  and  he  grants  out  tenancies 
to  such  as  he  thinks  fit.  In  return  for  such  grants  the 
tenants  do  homage  to  him  and  swear  fealty.  Homage  was 
done  in  the  following  manner  :  The  tenant  kneels  on  both 
knees  before  his  lord,  ungirt,  with  his  head  uncovered,  and 
places  his  hands  between  the  hands  of  his  lord  and  says  : 
*'  I  become  your  man  of  the  tenement  that  I  hold  of  you, 
and  faith  to  you  will  bear  of  life  and  member,  and  faith  to 
you  shall  bear  against  all  folk."  He  then  stands  up  and  with 
his  hand  on  the  Gospels  swears  as  follows:  "  Hear  this, 
my  lord.  I  will  bear  faith  to  you  of  life  and  member, 
goods,  chattels,  and  earthly  worship,  so  help  me  God  and 
these  holy  Gospels  of  God."  Sometimes  he  added  a 
promise  to  perform  the  services  due  from  him. 

The  tenant  was  now  the  '  man  *  of  the  king.     He  was 

^  History  of  English  Lazo. 

36 


THE    UNFREE 

the  freeholder  of  a  tenancy  which  might  amount  to  an  honour 
or  to  a  lesser  holding,  a  manor.  Out  of  that  holding  he  could 
grant  out  smaller  tenancies  to  lesser  men,  and  in  such  cases 
they  would  do  homage  and  swear  fealty  in  the  same  manner, 
except  that  the  words  "  saving  the  faith  that  I  owe  to  our 
lord  the  king  "  would  be  added.  As  time  went  on,  however, 
this  practice  of  subinfeudation,  as  it  was  called,  was  made 
a  means  of  evading  service  and  of  committing  fraud,  with 
the  result  that  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I  subinfeudation 
was  forbidden. 

The  Manor 

By  that  time,  however,  the  manorial  system  was  fully 
developed.  The  lords  of  manors  each  had  their  tenants, 
some  of  them  free  tenants  whose  tenures  were  obtained  in 
the  manner  above  described,  most  of  them  villein  tenants 
who  might  be  free  men  or  might  be  serfs.  The  villein 
tenant  took  a  different  form  of  oath.  His  tenancy  was  not 
protected  by  the  king,  but  was  held  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  manor.  He  held  at  will  in  the  sense  that  his  duties 
were  according  to  the  will  of  the  lord,  though  in  this 
matter  he  came  to  be  protected  by  the  custom  of  the  manor. 
He  could  not  freely  alienate  his  land,  but  only  with  the 
lord's  consent. 

The  manor  was  thus  an  imperium  in  hnperio.  The  lord 
luled  over  all  save  his  free  tenants,  who  were  able  to  seek 
protection  in  the  king's  courts.  The  manor  was  composed 
of  the  lord's  demesne  land — the  home  farm,  so  to  say — 
and  the  land  of  the  freehold  tenants  and  the  tenants  in 
villeinage.  The  demesne  lands  were  cultivated  by  the 
labour  of  the  tenants  of  the  non-demesne  lands  either  in 
virtue  of  the  services  due  from  them  in  return  for  their 
holdings  or  because  they  were  unfree  persons  bound  to  do 
their  lord's  bidding.  A  small  part  only  of  the  labour  was 
contributed  by  the  freehold  tenants,  practically  all  being 
performed  by  the  tenants  in  villeinage,  bond  and  free. 

In  the  earlier  part  of  the  feudal  period  the  lord  had  no 
need  to  hire  labour.     Toward  the  end  of  the  period,  in 

37 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

consequence  of  changes  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
examine,  the  hiring  of  labour  became  more  and  more 
frequent,  until  at  last  the  hired  labourer  took  the  place  of 
the  tenant-  or  bond-labourer. 

The  whole  of  the  manor  was  an  entity  divided  up  into 
numerous  holdings  divisible  into  three  parts  :  (i)  the 
demesne,  (2)  the  tenants'  holdings,  (3)  the  rest.  The  rest 
was  usually,  if  not  always,  common  or  waste  land  in  respect 
of  which  the  tenants  had  certain  well-defined  customary 
rights.  How  these  customary  rights  in  vast  numbers  of 
cases  were  lost  we  shall  also  have  occasion  to  describe. 

The  feudal  system  was  not,  however,  merely  a  system  of 
land-holding  ;  it  was  a  social  system  whereby  the  people 
were  linked  up  to  the  king  by  means  of  the  manorial  lords. 
The  manor  was  still  the  nucleus,  the  king  was  the  centre 
of  such  nuclei.  Around  the  castle  or  the  manor-house 
gathered  the  tenants,  mostly  peasants,  but  including  persons 
capable  of  craftsmanship.  Apart  from  the  citizens  of  the 
few  considerable  towns  which  then  existed,  the  entire 
population  was  attached  to  the  land.  Even  the  citizens, 
after  they  had  emerged  from  their  earliest  condition  of 
serfdom,  usually  held  land  by  burgage  ^  or  other  similar 
form  of  tenure.  The  vast  majority  of  men  were  country- 
men, and  these  looked  for  protection  to  the  lord  of  the 
manor  within  the  confines  of  which  they  lived. 

We  thus  see  that  in  England  under  the  feudal  system 
every  man  save  one  had  a  '  lord.'  The  tenants-in-chief 
owned  the  king  as  lord.  They  did  him  homage  and  swore 
fealty.  They  served  him  in  exchange  for  their  holdings. 
Even  the  King  of  England,  in  the  earlier  years  after  the 
Conquest,  possessed  a  lord  in  virtue  of  his  holding  of> 
ducal  lands  in  France.  The  mere  fact  that  the  serf  had 
a  lord  to  whose  will  he  must  bow  must  not  therefore  make 
us  too  readily  regard  him  as  a  slave.  He  was  unprotected 
in  his  holding  against  his  lord,  but  so  was  the  free  man 

^  A  form  of  tenure  restricted  to  cities  and  boroughs  whereby  the 
tenant,  in  return  for  his  holding,  either  paid  a  money  rent  or  rendered 
service  relating  to  trade  or  handicraft. 

38 


THE    UNFREE 

holding  in  villeinage,  and  so  too  was  the  earl  against  his 
lord  the  king. 

The  Status  of  the  Serf 

There  was,  however,  a  vast  difference  between  the  status 
of  the  villein  and  that  of  the  free  man  holding  in  villeinage. 
The  villein  was  the  chattel  of  his  lord,  who  could  give  him 
away,  sell  him,  dispose  of  him  by  will.  The  lord  could  seize 
the  villein's  personal  property,  except  that  in  the  later  law 
the  villein  was  protected  in  the  possession  of  the  necessary 
instruments  of  husbandry.  The  law,  it  is  true,  protected 
the  villein  from  being  murdered  or  maimed,  but  by  wide- 
spread custom  it  did  not  protect  as  against  the  lord  the 
honour  of  nativas  or  female  serfs.  As  in  the  Roman  times 
in  the  case  of  maiming,  the  matter  was  looked  at  as  modern 
law  looks  at  the  protection  of  animals  from  cruelty.  Pro- 
tection was  obtained  not  by  giving  a  right  to  the  injured 
thing,  but  by  making  it  a  crime  according  to  law  to  be 
guilty  of  the  act  complained  of. 

The  position  of  the  serf  has  been  admirably  expressed 
by  the  authors  of  the  History  of  English  Law  as  follows : 

Serfdom  ...  is  hardly  a  status  ;  it  is  but  the  relation  between 
two  persons,  serf  and  lord.  As  regards  his  lord  the  serf  has,  at 
least  as  a  rule,  no  rights  ;  but  as  regards  other  persons  he  has 
all,  or  nearly  all,  the  rights  of  a  free  man  ;  it  is  nothing  to  them 
that  he  is  a  serf. 

Thus,  though  the  serf  could  have  no  remedy  against  his 
lord  if  struck  by  him,  he  would  possess  the  same  remedy 
as  a  free  man  if  a  stranger  struck  him  ;  though  he  had  no 
means  of  recovering  his  chattels  if  they  were  seized  by 
his  lord,  he  could  proceed  against  anyone  else  who,  not 
acting  under  his  lord's  authority,  took  away  or  injured  or 
destroyed  his  goods.  His  power  to  contract  was,  however, 
very  circumscribed,  owing  to  the  curious  duality  of  his 
status.  Britton,  a  thirteenth-century  authority,  commits 
himself  to  the  statement  that  a  '  pure  '  villein  could  not 
contract;  certainly  a  villein  if  sued  on  his  contract  could 

39 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

avoid  liability  by  pleading  that  he  was  a  villein.  It  must 
have  followed  that  no  one  would  readily  make  a  contract, 
to  be  performed  in  juturo^  with  a  villein. 

The  Condition  of  the  Serfs 

It  frequently  happened,  however,  that,  as  with  the  slaves 
of  Rome,  so  with  the  serfs  of  England,  it  was  difficult  to 
tell  in  the  case  of  a  stranger  whether  such  stranger  was 
free  or  bond.  There  are  several  cases  in  the  old  Year 
Books  of  villeins  pleading  villeinage  to  defeat  plaintiffs 
who  clearly  had  contracted  with  them  believing  them  to 
be  free.  This  difficulty  of  differentiating  between  bond 
and  free  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  essential  difference 
was  one  of  legal  status,  or  relative  status,  and  not  one  of 
circumstance.  The  division  bond  and  free  did  not 
coincide  with  the  division  manual  and  non-manual  worker, 
or  with  any  other  social  division.  The  serf  was  by  no 
means  frequently  oppressed.  He,  like  the  slave,  was  at 
the  mercy  very  largely  of  his  lord  or  owner,  but  he  often 
attained  to  comfort,  and  in  some  cases  to  affluence.  The 
law  found  it  necessary  to  mention  that  a  serf  who  attained 
to  knighthood  became  free.  It  is  known  that  at  least 
one  of  the  sheriffs  of  London  (Simon  of  Paris)  was  a  serf. 
Occasionally  serfs  became  eminent  as  scholars ;  some 
succeeded  in  entering  the  Church,  though  this  could  only 
happen  where  those  ordaining  were  unaware  that  the 
candidate  was  a  serf.  Many  serfs  occupied  positions  of 
responsibility  as  the  faithful  dependents  of  their  lords. 
The  circumstances  of  the  serf's  life  depended,  in  fact,  very 
largely  upon  the  personal  abilities  of  the  serf  and  upon  the 
type  of  man  who  happened  to  be  his  lord.  In  the  normal 
case  his  life  was  uneventful  and  lowly,  but  in  the  main, 
though  as  against  his  lord  he  possessed  neither  liberty  nor 
rights,  as  against  the  world  he  was  protected  from  wrong 
and  secured  in  the  necessities  of  life.  Granted  a  complete 
absence  of  education  and  all  the  ideals  and  aspirations 
which  education  not  uncommonly  brings  in  its  train,  the 
condition  of  the  serf  was  by  no  means  intolerable. 
40 


THE    UNFREE 

Decline  of  Serfdom 

From  the  twelfth  century,  at  latest,  onward  this  class,  the  I 
serf,  was  of  necessity  a  dying  class.  The  rise  of  centralized 
government,  the  increasing  rarity  of  internecine  warfare, 
the  increasing  sense  of  racial  similarity,  all  conduced  to 
the  closing  of  those  avenues  along  which  the  free  man 
passed  to  become  bond.  Capture  in  war,  condemnation 
for  crime,  and  such  causes,  which  in  Roman  times  had  con- 
stantly operated  to  swell  the  numbers  of  the  unfree,  ceased 
to  operate,  as  did  such  typically  Saxon  causes  as  failure 
to  pay  a  wergild.  A  man,  it  is  true,  could  become  a  serf 
by  confession  in  open  court,  and  in  the  earlier  period  by 
prescription,  i.e.^  by  being  held  as  a  serf  and  submitting 
to  be  treated  as  such  for  successive  generations,  but  such 
causes  did  not  substantially  add  to  the  number  of  bondmen, 
while  on  the  other  hand  the  emancipations  and  enfran- 
chisements which  we  shall  have  to  consider  in  the  next 
chapter  were  constantly  reducing  the  number  of  serfs. 
In  England  it  would  seem  that  by  the  thirteenth  century 
a  feeling  was  growing  against  serfdom.  Prescriptive 
serfdom  early  died,  though  it  continued  in  Scotland  for 
some  centuries  after  it  had  ceased  to  operate  in  England. 

Serfdom  by  Birth 

Normally,  of  course,  serfdom  was  based  on  birth,  for  the 
children  of  serfs  were  serfs.  Where  one  of  the  parents 
was  free  and  the  other  unfree  many  difficulties  arose.  The 
Church,  usually  the  opponent  of  servitude,  but  tending  to 
become  more  and  more  complacent  toward  this  form  of 
proprietary  right  as  it  became  a  greater  and  still  greater 
landowner,  early  adopted  the  rule  that  if  either  of  the 
parents  was  unfree  the  child  was  unfree.  The  lawyers, 
however,  were  more  elaborate  and  more  humane.  They, 
looking  at  the  status  as  a  part  of  the  feudal  system  and  upon 
the  unfree  child  as  so  much  livestock,  considered  as  the 
critical  test  the  nature  of  the  tenement  in  which  the  child 
was  born.     If  the  child  was  born  in  a  home  held  in  free- 

41 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

hold  it  was  free,  if  in  a  home  held  in  villeinage,  unfree. 
Later  this  refinement  was  abandoned,  and  the  child  born 
in  lawful  wedlock  followed  the  status  of  the  father.  The 
position  of  what  must  have  been  a  numerous  class,  viz., 
the  illegitimate  children  of  serfs,  varied  with  the  period. 
Commencing  with  the  view  that  such  child  followed  the 
status  of  the  mother  (who  was,  it  may  be  assumed,  generally 
the  serf),  it  was  later  turned  almost  completely  round 
by  the  development  of  the  theory  that  as  a  child  follows 
the  father,  and  as  an  illegitimate  child  has  no  known  father, 
and  as  therefore  it  is  not  possible  to  prove  that  the  father 
was  a  serf,  the  child  is  free.  As  a  consequence  it  must 
often  have  happened  that  the  status  of  the  illegitimate 
child  was  higher  than  that  of  the  legitimate  children  of 
the  same  parent. 

Labour  of  Serfs 

We  have  seen  that  the  serf,  though  unfree  as  against  his 
lord,  was  in  the  normal  case  adequately  protected  and 
secured  in  the  necessities  of  life  as  against  the  rest  of  the 
world.  It  must  not,  however,  be  imagined  that  like  the 
slave  of  Rome  he  was  housed,  fed,  and  clothed  by  his 
lord.  In  cases  where  his  duties  were  domestic  he  was 
thus  provided  for,  at  least  to  some  extent,  but  in  the 
generality  of  cases  he  was  employed  in  agriculture,  and 
obtained  his  living  by  cultivating  the  land  which  he 
received  from  his  lord — his  villein  tenement — or  it  may 
be  by  working  for  those  who  could  afford  to  employ 
him,  or  by  both.  Thus  his  labour  might  be  regarded  as 
divisible  into  two  parts  :  (i)  his  labour  as  bondman,  for 
which  he  received  protection,  a  tenement  with  a  certain 
and  varying  amount  of  land,  and  customary  rights  over 
the  common  and  waste  land,  etc.  ;  (2)  his  labour  for  a 
living  either  as  a  very  small  farmer,  or  smallholder,  or  as 
workman  for  a  wage.  The  relative  extent  of  (i)  and  (2) 
could  always  be  varied  by  his  lord  at  will.  The  serf  could 
be  ejected  from  his  tenement  at  will,  but  in  fact  the  serf 
was,  as  a  rule,  neither  ground  down  to  do  an  impossible 

42 


i 


THE    UNFREE 

amount  of  servile  labour  nor  ejected  from  his  holding. 
Servile  families  not  infrequently  held  the  same  lands  under 
the  same  family  for  centuries,  and  the  sale  of  serfs  in 
gross  appears  to  have  been  extremely  rare. 

In  consequence  it  frequently  happened  that,  as  we  have 
above  indicated,  the  serf  became  possessed  of  a  certain 
amount  of  wealth.  Long-continued  frugality  and  hard 
work  could  have  no  other  result  under  such  a  system.  The 
serf  would  in  time  possess  many  cows  and  pigs,  etc.,  which 
could  pasture  and  feed  on  the  common  or  waste  land  or 
woods.  Here  again  we  must  distinguish  between  the  serf's 
de  facto  position  and  his  legal  status. 

The  Rights  of  the  Lord 

At  law  the  lord  could  seize  the  serf's  goods,  though  it 
would  appear  that  certain  things,  such  as  the  serf's  instru- 
ments of  husbandry,  could  not  be  so  seized.  In  fact  such 
seizures  were  of  the  rarest  occurrence.  In  time  the  lord's 
right  in  this  regard  became  almost  entirely  destroyed  by 
the  customary  laws  which  grew  up,  in  a  different  form, 
it  may  be,  for  almost  every  manor,  but  always  in  a  form 
which  protected  the  serf.  In  the  manor  courts  the  serf 
began  to  be  treated  as  one  capable  of  ownership.  His 
right  to  possess  and  to  sell  began  to  be  recognized.  His 
commonable  rights  began  to  be  marked  out  with  the 
greatest  minuteness,  so  that  even  while  serfdom  still  con- 
tinued its  most  salient  characteristics  were  beginning  to 
be  blurred,  and  it  was  becoming  difficult  to  see  very 
much  difference  between  the  serf  and  the  free  man.  But 
there  was  a  great  difference.  The  serf  was  in  every 
sense  dependent  on  the  will  of  another.  He  could  not  do 
what  he  would.  If  he  fled  he  could  be  pursued,  captured, 
and  brought  back.  He  could  not,  except  by  covering 
up  his  serfdom,  occupy  any  public  position  except  certain 
offices  such  as  that  of  reeve  in  his  own  manor.  Against 
the  bars  of  this  cage  the  wings  of  those  who  loved  liberty 
beat  in  vain.  Yet  not  in  vain,  for  in  time  the  cage  was 
burst  open  and  the  prisoner  escaped. 

43 


CHAPTER  II 

EMANCIPATION 

THE  break-up  of  the  Roman  state  marks  the  begin- 
ning of  a  struggle  both  in  England  and  in  France 
between  the  landowner  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
worker  on  the  other  ;  the  one  contending  for  complete 
mastery  and  the  other  for  at  first  partial  and  later  for  com- 
plete freedom.  At  first,  it  is  true,  mankind  was  not  so 
sharply  divided  into  these  two  classes.  The  Teutonic 
invaders  of  France  and  of  England  were  in  that  state  of 
development  known  as  tribal.  Their  enemies  were  the 
dispossessed  inhabitants  who  were  reduced  to  a  form  of 
slavery  which  turned  into  serfdom.  But  it  would  appear 
that  from  early  times  territory  rather  than  blood  or  kinship 
became  the  basis  of  all  social  and  political  power.  At  an 
early  period  we  find  in  existence  most  of  the  essential  prin- 
ciples of  what  later  became  known  as  the  feudal  system. 
I"  At  first,  of  course,  there  was  no  Christian  Church,  but 
when  that  Church  became  established  it  did  endeavour 
to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  unfree  classes.  Little 
by  little,  however,  the  Church  itself  became  a  great  land- 
owner, and  almost  insensibly  we  find  it  supporting  the 
land-owning  classes  in  their  oppression  of  the  land-worker. 
The  Church,  equally  with  the  manorial  lords,  resisted  the 
rise  of  the  free  towns ;  but  despite  this  powerful  opposition 
forces  were  at  work  which  enabled  a  class  that  at  one  time 
was  almost  entirely  destitute  of  rights  to  climb  slowly  up 
the  social  ladder,  until  by  the  thirteenth  century  great 
numbers  of  the  industrial  workers  had  shaken  themselves 
free  from  their  owners  and  masters  and  had  reached  the 
status  of  free  citizens.  The  rise  of  the  free  towns  marks 
the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  relation  of  lord  and  man 

44 


EMANCIPATION 

and  the  commencement  of  the  era  of  master  and  servant. 
We  must  therefore  attempt  to  describe  shortly  the  history 
of  the  enfranchisement  of  the  towns. 

Trade  and  Industry 

We  have  already  seen  that  throughout  the  Saxon 
period  trade  was  in  its  infancy.  This  was  so  not  only  in 
England,  but  in  France  and  other  European  countries 
also.  The  home-worker  was  able  to  make  such  simple 
articles  as  were  required.  The  trading  community  was 
dependent  for  its  livelihood  on  such  business  as  was  trans- 
acted in  the  fairs  and  markets,  and  the  markets  were 
restricted  to  such  places  as  were  deemed  to  be  secure. 

Such  secure  places  would  almost  always  have  sprung 
into  being  in  consequence  of  the  presence  of  a  stronghold 
occupied  by  some  lord  whose  power  had  originated  in  the 
possession  of  such  stronghold.  The  old  Roman  cities 
had  largely  fallen  into  disuse,  for  the  invading  barbarian 
had  not  known  how  to  live  in  the  buildings  which  he  found. 
New  villages  were  founded.  Owing  to  the  constant 
recurrence  of  petty  wars  these  villages  could  never  freely 
develop  or  expand,  or  indeed  escape  destruction  and  ruin, 
unless  some  leader  was  present  to  protect  and  fortify. 
The  protector  tended  to  become  the  owner,  the  village 
became  the  fortified  burg,  the  fortified  burg  the  nucleus 
of  the  manor,  the  beginnings  of  a  town,  but  not  a  free  town, 
for  the  lord  had  control  over  both  the  persons  and  the 
activities  of  its  inhabitants.  j 

M.  Levasseur  has  described  the  condition  of  industry  and 
labour  in  those  ages  in  France.  His  description  applies 
with  equal  truth  to  England.  No  period  is  poorer  in  the 
remains  of  works  of  art  and  examples  of  craft-work 
than  those  centuries  which  stretch  between  the  Saxon 
invasions  and  the  Conquest.  Industry  and  craftsmanship 
were  almost  non-existent,  if  we  distinguish  between  industry 
and  agriculture.  This  fact  can  almost  be  proved  by  a 
consideration  of  the  cost  of  articles  of  craftsmanship,  for 
we  find  that  whereas  the  products  of  simple  trades,  such 

45 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

as  that  of  the  baker,  were  cheap,  the  products  of  the  highly 
skilled  trades  were  excessively  expensive,  even  in  an  age 
when  fourteen  days'  work  was  priced  at  a  sum  equivalent 
to  rather  less  than  two  shillings  sterling. 

Thus  in  the  tenth  century  a  fine  linen  shirt  cost  about 
as  much  as  a  man  slave,  while  a  cuirass  in  the  eleventh 
century  cost  rather  more  than  the  price  often  workmen-serfs 
and  nearly  fifty  times  as  much  as  an  ox.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  bare  necessities  of  life,  bread  and  meat  and  milk, 
were  so  cheap  that  the  wages  of  free  men,  though  accord- 
ing to  modern  standards  extraordinarily  low,  were  sufficient 
to  enable  the  workman  at  least  to  maintain  existence. 

In  the  majority  of  cases,  however,  the  manual  workers 
were,  as  we  have  said,  not  free  men,  but  serfs  or  slaves. 
Louis  the  Debonair  mentions  in  his  laws  various  forms 
of  labour  which  were  deemed  essentially  servile,  e.g., 
labourer's  work,  wood-cutting,  and  shearing  of  sheep,  etc. 
Apart  from  such  work  the  majority  of  manual  workers 
were  undoubtedly,  in  the  early  part  of  the  feudal  period, 
the  *  men '  of  lords,  and  received,  not  wages,  but  land  and 
protection. 

The  New  Era 

With  the  twelfth  century,  however,  commenced  a  new 
era.  In  England,  indeed,  the  movement  had  begun, 
especially  in  the  larger  towns  and  particularly  in  London, 
in  the  eleventh  century.  This  movement  continued  for 
nearly  three  centuries,  and  its  main  characteristics  are  the 
rise  of  the  middle  classes,  the  revival  of  art  and  industry, 
and  the  emancipation  of  the  towns  and  trading  communities. 
The  period  throughout  was  feudal,  but  as  a  result  of  this 
movement  a  new  class  arose,  largely  independent  of  the 
landowner  or  the  Church,  possessing  the  support  of  the 
kingship,  and  developing  a  special  code  of  laws  and  rules 
for  the  management  and  control  of  its  members. 

The  causes  of  this  fundamental  change,  which  caused 
the  centre  of  industry  to  shift  from  the  manor  to  the  town, 
were  mainly  two.     On  the  one  hand,  the  rise  of  a  cen- 

46 


EMANCIPATION 

tralized  system  of  government  (a  development  which 
took  place  later  in  France  than  in  England)  enabled  society 
to  become  more  tranquil  and  lessened  that  need  for  per- 
sonal protection  which  was  at  the  root  of  the  relationship 
of  lord  and  man.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Crusades,  though 
they  failed  in  their  direct  purpose,  had  a  result  perhaps 
more  important  for  the  world  than  the  achievement  of 
that  purpose,  for  they  so  broadened  the  minds  of  the  men 
who  took  part  in  them  and  loosed  such  a  store  of  learning, 
which  until  then  had  been  lost  to  Western  Europe,  that 
they  were  the  direct  cause  of  what  is  known  as  the  First 
Renaissance.  Needs  were  experienced  which  had  been 
unknown  before,  and  needs  are  at  the  basis  of  all  industry. 
Knowledge  was  acquired  of  things  before  unimagined,  and 
knowledge  is  the  basis  of  all  skill.  A  great  impetus  was 
given  to  trade,  and  it  now  became  apparent  that  whereas 
craftsmanship  and  production  were  beyond  all  things 
desirable  in  the  workman,  the  serf,  the  semi-free,  had 
neither  skill  nor  productivity  to  offer. 

These  two  great  forces — on  the  one  hand  a  sense  of 
security  in  the  state  which  removed  the  old  feeling  of 
dependence  on  another,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  feeling 
that  men  who  were  free  gave  of  their  best  while  men  who 
were  bond  gave  no  more  than  they  must — were  the  decisive 
factors  in  the  long  struggle  which  now  began,  and  which 
had  for  its  object,  so  far  as  the  industrialists  and  the 
land-workers  were  concerned,  the  obtaining  of  personal 
independence. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  individual  and  collective 
enfranchisements,  the  increase  of  population  and  the 
growth  of  towns,  the  granting  of  franchises  to  burgesses, 
the  obtaining  of  the  rank  of  feuds}  persoft^  by  the  communes, 
the  development  of  the  organization  of  municipalities,  the 
extension  of  the  royal  protection  and  the  royal  justice 
throughout  the  whole  kingdom,  and  the  fixing  of  customary 
rights  are  the  means,  both  in  England  and  in  France,  by 
which  the  common  people,  who  formed  the  vast  majority 
of  the  townsfolk,  the  merchants,  and  the  artisans,  raised 

47 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  ^ 

themselves  step  by  step  in  the  space  of  some  two  and  a 
half  or  three  centuries  from  the  lowly  condition  of  serfs  to 
the  rank  of  free  subjects. 

The  Manorial  Lords 

At  the  beginning  of  this  movement  we  find  the  workman 
almost  identified  with  the  land-worker.  Non-agricultural 
trades  were  few  and  of  little  importance.  As  regards  the 
land,  the  lords  of  manors  controlled  both  the  use  of  the  land 
and  the  men  who  lived  thereon.  They  collected  taxes  as 
lords,  rents  as  proprietors,  services  as  owners.  The  villein 
was  taxable  at  mercy  ;  all  that  he  owned  was  owned  at 
mercy.  No  incentive,  save  the  incentive  of  fear,  to  work 
either  hard  or  well  existed.  He  existed,  steeped  in  the 
densest  ignorance,  and  in  duty  did  that  which  he  must. 

The  peasant,  whether  free  or  serf,  was,  as  a  rule,  too 
poor  to  have  in  his  cottage  either  wine-press  or  bakery. 
His  corn  could  be  ground  only  at  the  manorial  mill,  his 
bread  must  be  baked  in  the  manorial  bakehouse,  his  cider 
pressed  at  the  manorial  press.  At  first  there  is  reason  to 
believe  that  the  manorial  lords,  between  whom  and  their 
men  there  existed  in  early  times  a  far  greater  degree  of 
human  sympathy  than  in  later  times,  had  given  to  their 
men  these  rights  of  grinding  corn,  etc.,  as  privileges,  but 
they  became  oppressions  under  the  exactions  of  the 
manorial  stewards.  The  free  farmer,  bringing  in  his  corn 
from  the  farm  miles  distant,  might  have  to  wait  on 
the  pleasure  of  the  manorial  miller,  who  might  prove  im- 
movable except  by  bribes.  The  unfree  fared  still  worse. 
They  were  at  mercy.  Beaumanoir  vividly  describes  how 
the  serfs  were  subject  to  their  lord,  who,  if  he  pleased, 
"  could  fling  them  into  prison  with  or  without  right  and 
there  keep  them  so  long  as  he  liked,  and  for  such  deed  was 
answerable  to  no  one  save  his  God."  ^ 

In  the  eleventh  century  in  France  and  Scotland  the  land 
itself  was  cultivated  for  the  most  part  by  serfs  working 

1  Compare  Pierre  de  Fontaine  :  "  Between  them  and  their  villeins  there 
is  no  judge  but  God." 


EMANCIPATION 

individually  or  in  common,  by  coloni  to  a  much  lesser 
degree,^  and  by  freed  men  and  free  men  only  to  a  very 
small  extent.  By  the  thirteenth  century,  however,  a  new 
spirit  was  becoming  evident,  a  great  principle  was  beginning 
to  be  recognized,  a  principle  which  was  expressed  by  St 
Thomas  Aquinas  in  the  words,  **  The  right  of  property 
is  necessary  to  man." 

Enfranchisements 

As  early  as  967  in  France  the  Abbot  of  St  Arnould 
had  begun  that  long  series  of  charters  of  enfranchisement 
which,  though  rare  in  the  tenth  and  early  eleventh 
centuries,  became  so  common  in  France  and  England 
in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries.  As  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Besangon  said  when  enfranchising  his  serfs  at 
Gy  and  Buccy,  **  The  serfs  work  not,  for  they  say  that  if 
they  work  they  work  for  others  only."  It  was  found  that 
as  enfranchisements  increased  the  population  increased 
also.     The  increase  is,  indeed,  astonishing. 

As  a  result  of  these  enfranchisements  the  land-workers 
who  fell  within  the  enfranchisement  ceased  to  be  serfs. 
They  were  conjfirmed  in  their  holdings,  which  they  culti- 
vated for  their  own  benefit,  rendering  to  the  landowner  in 
return  definite  payments  in  money  or  in  kind.  Their 
rights  were  recognized  and  protected  by  the  law  of  the 
land.  Their  persons  were  no  longer  at  the  mercy  of  their 
lords.  They  were  no  longer  taxable  without  limit,  but 
such  duties  as  they  owed  were  regulated  by  law. 

The  Rise  of  the  Towns 

The  enfranchisements  in  the  rural  districts  were  matched 
by  the  growth  of  free  towns.  By  free  towns  we  mean,  in 
this  connexion,  urban  societies,  the  members  of  which  were 
free  men  possessing  the  right  to  control  the  destinies  of 
the  social  unit  of  which  they  formed  a  part.  The  term 
'  free  town  '  has,   however,   a  narrower  and  more  special 

^  In  England  the  class  of  coloni — i.e.,  serfs  of  a  tenement  rather  than  of 
a  person — ^was  a  conception  that  early  ceased  to  exist. 

D  49 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

meaning  when  it  is  used  in  contradistinction  to  the  com- 
mune. In  this  narrower  sense  the  free  town  differed  from 
the  commune  in  this,  that  it  remained  subject  to  the  control 
of  a  lord  who  governed  it  and  appointed  its  officers.  Such 
was  the  position  of  Paris  and  Orleans  in  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  centuries.  The  commune,  or  free  town  in  the 
wider  sense,  in  return  for  an  annual  payment,  was  free 
from  all  service.  If  the  corporate  body  was  guilty  of  an 
infraction  of  the  terms  of  its  charter  a  fine  could  be  levied, 
but  the  quantum  of  the  fine  did  not  depend  on  the  will  of 
the  lord,  but  was  determined  according  to  the  principles  of 
law.  In  such  a  position  was  London  from  the  eleventh 
century  onward.  The  management  of  the  town  was 
controlled  by  the  burgesses,  in  time  largely  by  the  gilds, 
in  some  cases  by  the  richer  burgesses.  The  gilds,  which 
we  shall  later  have  occasion  to  refer  to,  took  a  great  part  in 
the  development  of  communal  government,  but  the  free 
town  was  not  developed  out  of  gild  privileges,  it  was  the 
creature  of  charters  of  enfranchisement  similar  to  those 
other  charters  which  had  placed  the  feet  of  the  serf  on  the 
first  rung  of  the  ladder  of  personal  freedom. 

Localization  of  Trade 

We  remind  the  reader  that  at  the  beginning  of  the 
period  all  trade,  or  practically  all  trade,  was  carried  on  in 
secure  burgs  in  fairs  or  markets.  Over  all,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  this  era,  the  manorial  lord  had  practically 
complete  control.  The  inhabitants  of  the  manorial  town- 
ship held  their  tenure,  in  the  very  great  majority  of  cases, 
at  will  and  subject  to  the  rendering  of  such  services  as 
the  lord  thought  fit  to  exact.  Such  tenure  could  be  deter- 
minable by  the  lord  at  any  time.  The  markets  and  the 
fairs  also  were,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  held  at  will. 
The  lord,  whether  spiritual  or  lay,  exacted  such  dues  as 
he  considered  to  be  reasonable  in  return  for  permission  to 
trade  therein.  From  time  to  time,  when,  for  example, 
the  lord  desired  to  sell  such  of  the  produce  of  his  land  as 
he  did  not  require  for  the  use  of  his  household,  it  was 

50 


EMANCIPATION 

within  his  power  to  declare  his  ban  upon  all  trade  in  such 
articles  for  such  time  as  he  in  his  discretion  determined. 
Such  ban  prevented  all  other  trade  in  such  articles 
within  the  lord's  jurisdiction.  In  this  era  trade  and  industry 
were  intensely  manorial.  The  foreign  merchant  rarely 
came  to  vend  his  goods  except  at  fair  time.  The  foreign 
artisan  was  almost  unknown.  By  *  foreign  *  we  must  be 
understood  to  mean  not  the  native  of  another  country,  but 
the  tenant  of  another  manor. 

This  intense  localization  of  trade  and  industry  continued 
long  after  the  rise  of  the  free  town.  The  gilds  pursued 
the  same  policy  of  repressing  foreign  competition,  and, 
indeed,  it  was  not  until  the  rise  of  the  industrial  system 
that  internal  trade  became  completely  free.  Even  to-day, 
as  regards  international  trade,  many  people  hold  the  same 
views  as  once  were  held  by  the  burgesses  of  the  Low 
Countries,  of  France,  of  Italy,  and  of  England.  It  is  simply 
a  question  of  outlook,  for  to-day,  owing  to  the  development 
of  means  of  transport,  Brussels  is  less  remote  from  London 
than  was  Derby  from  Nottingham  in  the  fourteenth 
century. 

Throughout  the  period  we  are  now  describing  there  was, 
however,  a  certain  amount  of  migratory  labour,  although 
the  tendency  was  for  the  worker  to  become  attached  to  the 
land.  Thus,  M.  Fagniez  reproduces  for  us  the  case, 
which  occurred  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century,  of  the 
painter  Fulcon,  who  came  to  the  monastery  of  Angers 
and  undertook  in  the  presence  of  the  abbot  and  the  monks 
to  make  for  the  monastery  such  windows  and  pictures  as 
might  be  required.  In  return  for  his  labour  it  was  agreed 
that  he  should  be  treated  as  a  brother,  made  a  freeman  of 
the  abbey,  be  granted  for  life  some  one  and  a  quarter  acres 
of  vineyard  and  a  house,  which  holding  was  to  return  to 
the  abbey  on  his  death  unless  he  left  a  son  capable  of  doing 
the  same  work. 

This  case  is  an  extremely  instructive  one  in  that  it 
shows  us  one  of  the  reasons  why  crafts  tended  so  strongly 
to  continue  in  the  same  family,  but  it  is  an  exceptional  case. 

51 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

In  the  generality  of  instances  at  the  commencement  of 
the  period  the  artisan  would  commence  life  as  the  child  of 
a  serf;  he  would  possess  the  status  of  a  serf;  he  would  be 
trained  within  the  manor  to  work  at  such  craft  as  might  be 
chosen  for  him  and  on  such  terms  as  the  lord  thought  fit. 
As  he  grew  up  to  manhood  and  married  he  would  receive 
a  holding  in  villeinage,  if  he  received  a  holding  at  all. 
He  would  thus  be  a  man  owning  a  lord,  and  the  incentive 
of  personal  gain  would  be  entirely  lacking,  while  the  incen- 
tive of  doing  beautiful  work  would  be  considerable,  for  he 
would  by  so  doing  gratify  every  man's  desire  to  do  fine 
work,  while  such  gratification  would  be  at  the  expense  of 
another.  Unfortunately,  however,  the  power  to  do  fine 
work  was  rarely  present  owing  to  the  intense  localization 
of  knowledge.  Occasionally  it  must  have  happened  that 
great  craftsmen  and  artists  arose,  but  their  influence  could 
only  be  local.  At  best  they  could  but  become  the  posses- 
sions of  lords  holding  wide  estates,  or  of  religious  houses 
which  could  utilize  to  the  utmost  their  genius.  It  awaited 
the  rise  of  the  gild  and  the  gild  school  for  such  great 
craftsmen  to  be  able  to  infuse  their  spirit  into  and  transmit 
their  knowledge  widely  to  others. 

Town  Charters 

From  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  however,  both 
in  England  and  in  France  the  townsmen  began  to  obtain 
those  charters  of  emancipation  which  are  the  basis  of  the 
free  town  in  the  broader  sense.  The  communes  of  the 
Low  Countries  and  the  North  of  France,  like  London  in 
the  case  of  England  and  the  towns  of  the  Lombard  League, 
soon  arrived  at  positions  of  considerable  power,  power 
flowing  both  from  wealth  and  from  political  influence. 

That  such  charters  could  ever  have  been  obtained  in 
that  age  from  unwilling  lords  without  collective  action  is 
a  matter  of  great  doubt.  There  is,  indeed,  evidence  that  in 
many  urban  communities  there  was  in  existence  collective 
action  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants  before  the  eleventh 
century.     In  the  pie-powder  courts  and  the  court  of  the 

52 


EMANCIPATION 

portgerefa  there  had  been  developed  even  in  Saxon  times 
a  special  ,law  for  the  trading  community.  The  citizens 
were  already  beginning  to  arrange  for  the  protection,  by 
citizen  guards,  of  the  towns.  But  although  some  frag- 
ment of  corporate  unity  had  already  been  created,  the 
lords  were  far  too  firmly  entrenched  to  have  submitted  to 
the  loss  of  valuable  privileges.  It  was  becoming  evident, 
however,  for  reasons  which  we  indicate  elsewhere,  that 
the  privileges  were  hardly  valuable.  Bond  labour  did 
not  give  good  results  either  in  agriculture  or  in  industry. 
Townsmen  could  be  troublesome  and  their  control 
expensive.  Little  by  little  these  facts,  which  had  been 
recognized  by  some  lords  centuries  before  they  were 
realized  by  others,  were  generally  acknowledged,  or,  if  not 
directly  acknowledged,  were  impliedly  accepted. 

The  townsmen,  on  the  other  hand,  as  protection  became 
less  and  less  necessary,  became  more  and  more  independent. 
Concession  after  concession  was  wrung  from  the  lords, 
or  in  some  cases  was  freely  and  willingly  given  by  them. 
Already  in  the  eleventh  century  we  find  among  others  the 
following  towns  which  had  become  free :  London,  Orleans, 
Etampes,  Souvigny,  Oloron,  Morlaas.  The  lord,  by  the 
charter  which  he  granted,  voluntarily  substituted  a  contract 
in  place  of  his  discretionary  authority.  As  M.  Levasseur 
says  :  **  He  was  moved  almost  always  by  a  motive  of 
interest  rather  than  by  a  motive  of  that  disinterested  piety 
which  pervades  the  preambles  of  these  charters."  Some- 
times the  concessions  made  were  very  limited,  sometimes 
they  were,  as  in  the  case  of  London,  extremely  wide.  In 
Paris,  which  owned  the  French  king  as  lord,  the  privileges 
were  only  obtained  by  very  gradual  stages.  Throughout 
the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  the  franchise  con- 
cessions made  to  towns  and  the  inhabitants  thereof  were 
very  frequent.  In  England,  under  the  first  three  Edwards, 
a  consistent  policy  of  giving  encouragement  to  the  artisan 
and  town-dweller  appears  to  have  been  pursued.  Edward  I  in 
particular  granted  a  vast  number  of  privileges  and  charters, 
with   the   result   that   by   the    middle    of   the    fourteenth 

53 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

century  the  national  wealth  and  power  had  c^ed  to  be 
centred  in  the  manor  and  had  shifted  to  the^M|B^n  and 
'  the  city.     By  the  reign  of  Richard  II   the   great   change 
which  had  taken  place  had  become  fully  apparent. 

Displacement  of  Population 

The  change  which  had  been  wrought  in  the  control  of 
the  towns  and  of  industry  had,  indeed,  been  the  cause  of  a 
great  displacement  of  population.  At  the  commencement 
of  the  period  the  towns  had  been  few  and  small,  hardly 
more  than  villages  and  fortified  places;  at  its  end  the 
countryside  had  been  denuded  to  no  inconsiderable  extent 
to  feed  the  rising  and  flourishing  towns  which  were  every- 
where springing  into  existence.  Though  we  may  treat 
the  opinion  expressed  in  the  Parliament  of  1380  which 
imposed  the  poll  tax,  that  **  all  the  wealth  of  England  had 
gone  into  the  hands  of  labourers  and  workmen,"  as  being 
no  more  justified  than  are  similar  opinions  freely  expressed 
to-day,  yet  it  is  clear  that  both  in  England  and  on  the 
Continent  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  and 
particularly  the  latter  century,  saw  an  enormous  growth 
in  industry  and  commerce.  The  dictum  of  Aquinas  had 
been  fully  justified;  the  opinion  of  those  wise  lords  who 
believed  that  the  free  gave  of  their  best  and  the  bond 
of  their  worst  had  been  proved  to  be  sound.  England 
was  prosperous,  despite  the  ravages  of  the  Black  Death,  as 
perhaps  she  had  never  been.  Corn  was  cheap  and  wages 
were  high.  The  simpler  luxuries  had  spread  to  every 
section  of  society. 

The  Black  Death 

The  Black  Death  accelerated  the  social  and  economic 
changes  which  had  begun  in  earlier  centuries.  By 
that  time  the  rural  population  had  in  many  instances 
shaken  itself  free  from  absolute  serfdom  or  villeinage  in 
gross.  Labour  was  no  longer,  as  a  general  rule,  given  in 
return  for  protection  and  land,  but  rather  in  return  for 
wages.     The  Black  Death  caused  the  supply  of  labour  to 

54 


[  EMANCIPATION 

dry  up.  This  terrible  scourge,  which  spread  from  the 
Crimea  throughout  Europe,  and  which  probably  reached 
Eur'ope  from  China,  destroyed  in  fourteen  months  between 
one-third  and  one-half  of  the  entire  population.  All 
classes  suffered,  but  none  to  a  greater  extent  than  the  clergy 
and  the  peasants.  In  some  villages  everyone  was  struck 
down;  of  one  low-lying  village  in  Herefordshire  the  cross 
alone  remains,  a  memorial  to  the  villagers  who  all  perished 
in  this  visitation.  Several  results  followed.  On  the  one 
hand,  despite  the  Order  of  1349,  labour  became  so  dear  and 
so  difficult  to  obtain  that  advantage  was  taken  of  the  high 
profits  to  be  gained  from  wool  to  turn  a  great  part  of  the 
countryside  from  arable  to  pasturage,  thus  reducing  the 
number  of  persons  required  on  the  land.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  consequence  of  the  Order  sent  in  1349  to  the 
sheriffs,  wages  were  limited,  with  the  result  that  later  in 
the  same  year  it  was  found  necessary  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
emigrations  which,  it  was  found,  were  taking  place  in  such 
numbers  that,  as  it  was  said,  '*  the  realm  may  soon  be 
destitute  both  of  men  and  treasure." 

Statute  of  Labourers 

The  Order  of  1349,  which  was  embodied  two  years 
later  in  the  Statute  of  Labourers,  marks  such  a  departure 
in  the  State's  attitude  toward  labour  that  it  appears 
desirable  to  quote  it  at  some  length.  By  it  the  King 
ordained : 

That  every  man  and  woman  under  sixty  who  does  not  live 
by  trade,  or  by  exercising  any  craft,  or  having  wherewith  to  live, 
or  their  own  land  with  whose  culture  they  may  occupy  themselves 
and  not  serving  another,  shall  be  bound  to  serve  him  who  requires  ^ 
them,  and  shall  receive  the  wages  which  were  customary  in  the 
twentieth  year  of  the  reign  or  in  the  five  or  six  preceding  years, 
provided  that  the  lords  be  preferred  before  others  in  their  bond- 
men or  tenants,  so  that  they  retain  no  more  than  are  necessary, 
and  if  they  will  not  serve  when  required,  this  being  proved  by 
two  lawful  men  before  the  sheriff,  bailiflr,  lord,  or  constable  of 
the  town,  they  shall  be  put  in  gaol  and  kept  there  until  they  find 

55 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

security  to  serve;  and  if  any  workman,  being  retained,  depart 
from  the  service  before  the  end  of  the  term  agreed  upon  without 
reasonable  cause  or  license,  he  shall  suffer  imprisonment.  ♦ 

It  was  further  provided  that  no  master  should  promise 
to  pay,  and  no  worker  exact,  higher  wages  than  those  above 
stated;  on  the  other  hand,  the  prices  of  the  necessary  food- 
stuffs were  reduced  to  those  which  were  "  reasonable." 

It  is  hardly  conceivable  that  the  Statute  of  Labourers 
was  at  any  time  rigorously  enforced.  As  Sir  Frederick  Eden 
remarked,  "  If  the  wages  fixed  by  the  statute  were  adhered 
to,  the  pay  of  a  labourer  or  artificer  must  have  been  the 
same  from  1350  to  1370;  yet  in  the  course  of  that  period 
the  price  of  wheat  varied  from  2s.  to  £1  6s.  Sd."  Such  a 
violent  fluctuation  in  the  standard  of  life,  for  bread  was  in 
those  days  far  more  than  it  is  to-day  the  staple  food  of  the 
people,  must  have  caused  such  acute  misery  that  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  believe  that  it  would  have  been  tolerated  even 
by  a  peasantry  but  lately  emerged  from  serfdom.  However 
this  may  be,  it  appears  clearly  that  this  regulation  of  wages 
was  a  device  framed  by  the  nobility  for  their  own  purposes 
and  tending  to  cramp  the  exertions  of  agriculture  and  of 
industry. 

Peasants'  Rebellion 

This  reactionary  legislation  was,  however,  designed  to 
meet  a  transient  and  exceptional  difficulty.  It  is  doubtful 
to  what  extent  it  had  a  marked  and  permanent  effect.  It 
occurred  in  a  century  notable  for  the  encouragement  of 
trade  and  industry.  The  Peasants'  Rebellion,  which  took 
place  in  138 1,  checked  rather  than  promoted  the  betterment 
of  the  labouring  classes.  This  revolt,  which  arose  as  a 
consequence  of  the  imposition  of  the  poll  tax  in  the  previous 
year,  and  which  wrested  from  the  youthful  Richard  a 
grant  of  a  general  enfranchisement  which  was  almost 
immediately  revoked,  does  not  appear  to  have  been  inspired 
by  any  great  or  worthy  desire  on  the  part  of  the  masses  to 
improve  the  lot  of  their  kind.  Each  class  seems  to  have 
been   rather  concerned  about  the  redress  of  their  class- 

56 


EMANCIPATION 

grievances.  Thus  in  Kent,  where  the  rebellion  was  most 
active,  we  can  say  with  Sir  George  Trevelyan  that :  **  every 
man  was  practically  free  in  the  eye  of  the  law  ;  he  could  sell 
his  land,  he  could  plead  in  court,  he  was  free  from  many 
humiliating  service  dues  that  were  customary  in  other 
shires."  But  in  Kent,  as  elsewhere,  certain  grievances 
existed,  and  it  was  to  remove  these  grievances,  which  varied 
district  by  district,  that  John  Ball,  Wat  Tyler,  and  Jebe 
Lister  led  on  their  men  to  commit  some  of  the  worst  acts  of 
vandalism  that  occurred  in  England  throughout  the  Middle 
Ages.  In  consequence  of  the  burnings  and  destruction 
which  took  place  in  the  course  of  this  revolt  grave  loss  was 
caused,  but  the  gain  to  the  people  was  either  negative  or 
imperceptible.  Like  the  peasants'  war  in  Wales  in  the 
early  years  of  the  fifteenth  century,  it  caused  much  loss 
and  suffering  without  the  compensation  of  improvement 
in  the  condition  of  any  section  of  the  people. 

Strength  of  the  Free  Towns 

The  labouring  classes  had,  indeed,  then  as  now  nothing 
to  gain  from  armed  violence.  The  rights  which  they  had 
already  secured,  and  they  were  many,  had  been  obtained 
largely  because  of  that  strong  centralization  of  government 
which  had  brought  peace  to  the  country,  peace  in  which 
labour  was  able  to  carry  on  effectively  its  bloodless  struggle 
for  freedom.  The  rise  of  the  middle  classes,  the  develop- 
ment of  craftsmanship,  the  increase  of  trade,  the  shifting 
of  population  from  rural  to  urban  districts,  these,  among 
other  causes,  had  enabled  the  worker  to  attain  to  a  degree 
of  personal  freedom  which  two  centuries  before  he  could 
hardly  have  imagined.  Great  cities  had  developed,  such  as 
Ypres,  which,  from  a  small  hamlet  nestling  beside  the 
castle  built  in  the  ninth  century  as  a  defence  against  the 
piratical  Northmen,  had  grown  into  a  flourishing  manu- 
facturing town  before  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
This  lovely  old  city,  once  the  *  paradise  of  architects,'  was, 
even  before  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  a  town 
containing  200,000  people  and  12,000  houses.     In  1302 

57 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

its  red-coated  contingent  of  citizen-soldiers  was  able  to 
turn  the  fortunes  of  the  day  at  the  battle  of  Courtrai.  Two 
years  later  its  wonderful  Cloth  Hall,  begun  over  a  century 
before,  was  completed,  and  formed,  until  destroyed  in  these 
latter  days,  a  fitting  monument  to  the  craftsmanship  and 
wealth  of  the  burgesses  of  this  free  town.  It  was  here 
that  the  principles  of  sanitation  were  first  given  practical 
effect  in  the  endeavours  constantly  made  to  lessen  the 
ravages  of  the  plague  to  which  its  low  situation  rendered  it 
peculiarly  liable.  So  great  an  effect  on  international  trade 
could  the  burgesses  exercise  that  Edward  III  found  it 
necessary  to  enact  that  no  person  in  England,  except  only 
the  Royal  family,  should  wear  any  cloth  made  outside 
the  realm. 

At  that  time,  of  course,  Ypres  was  the  centre  of  the  cloth 
trade,  but  thanks  to  the  activities  of  the  English  manufac- 
turers, the  excellence  of  the  Cotswold  wool,  and  the  crafts- 
manship of  the  English  weavers,  the  trade  was  largely 
wrested  from  the  Flemings  by  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, so  that  more  than  half  of  the  40,000  looms  of  Bruges 
were  lying  idle,  the  trade  of  Ghent  had  largely  been  diverted, 
and  the  former  supremacy  of  Ypres  was  destroyed. 

Such  international  trade  rivalries  show,  however,  how 
mightily  industry  had  increased.  Trade  was  no  longer 
entirely  domestic  or  local.  A  great  trading  and  manu- 
facturing community  had  arisen  largely  separate  from  the 
feudal  system,  protected  by  charter,  self-governing  to  a 
considerable  extent,  possessed  of  special  laws  relating  to 
trade  and  contract,  wealthy  and  prosperous.  We  shall 
have  occasion  in  the  next  chapter  to  speak  of  the  gilds  which 
to  so  large  an  extent  were  responsible  for  the  government  of 
these  communities  and  which  so  greatly  aided  the  develop- 
ment of  craftsmanship. 

Extinction  of  Serfdom 

But  though  by  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century  labour 
had  to  a  great  extent  shaken  off  the  shackles  of  serfdom, 
and  though  trade  and  industry  flourished  exceedingly,  it 

58 


EMANCIPATION 

is  not  possible  to  speak  of  the  extinction  of  serfdom  or 
slavery,  even  among  white  races,  until  many  more  years 
had  rolled  by. 

It  was  not  until  1618  that  the  case  of  Pigg  v.  Caley,  the 
last  case  in  which  villeinage  was  pleaded,  was  heard.  As 
late  as  1 561,  from  the  case  of  Lewis  Lowth,  we  gather  that 
serfdom  was  a  reality  even  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  In  that 
case  Lowth  had  been  bound  apprentice  to  Robert  Ring- 
wood  for  seven  years,  but  Mr  John  Holdiche  appeared 
before  the  mayor  and  justices  and  declared  "  that  the 
said  Lewis  is  a  bondman  to  my  lord  of  Norfolk's  grace," 
whereupon  his  indentures  were  cancelled  and  he  was 
presumably  handed  over  to  my  lord  of  Norfolk. 

Reaction 

The  enfranchisement  of  the  serf  had,  however,  by  the 
sixteenth  century  become  almost  complete.  But  this 
emancipation  had  brought  with  it  the  problem  of  poverty, 
and  throughout  the  later  half  of  that  century,  for  reasons 
which  we  shall  have  cause  to  consider,  the  problem  became 
acute.  In  this  place  we  refer  to  the  matter  in  order  to  show 
how  for  a  season  the  Government  appears  deliberately  to 
have  contemplated  the  return  to  the  days  of  slavery,  for 
by  an  Act  of  Edward  VI's  reign  (i  Edw.  VI,  c.  3)  it  was 
provided  that  if  any  man  or  woman,  able  to  work,  should 
refuse  to  labour,  and  live  idly  for  three  days,  he  or 
she  should  be  branded  with  a  red-hot  iron  on  the  breast 
with  the  letter  V  and  should  be  adjudged  the  slave,  for  two 
years,  of  any  person  who  should  inform  against  such  idler. 
The  master  was  directed  to  feed  his  slave  with  bread  and 
water,  or  small  drink,  and  such  refuse  meat  as  he  should 
think  proper,  and  to  cause  the  slave  to  work  by  beating, 
chaining,  or  otherwise,  in  such  work  and  labour  "  how  vile 
soever  it  be  "  as  he  should  put  him  to.  If  the  slave  ran 
away  for  fourteen  days  he  became  his  master's  slave  for  life 
and  was  branded  with  the  letter  S.  If  he  ran  away  again 
he  was  put  to  death.  Masters  were  empowered  to  sell, 
bequeath,  let  out  for  hire,  or  give  the  services  of  their  slaves, 

59 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

By  the  same  Act  all  persons  were  empowered  to  take  idle 
children  from  vagabonds  and  to  retain  them  as  apprentices: 
till  the  boys  were  twenty-four  and  the  girls  twenty  years  ofl 
age.  If  they  ran  away  they  could  be  used  as  slaves  untili 
the  termination  of  their  apprenticeship. 

As  Sir  Frederick  Eden  says:  "  An  Act  so  disgraceful  to 
the  Legislature  did  not  remain  long  upon  the  Statute  Roll : 
by  the  3  and  4  Edward  VI,  c.  16,  it  was  completely! 
repealed."  ^  The  mere  passing  of  the  Act  shows  us,  how- 
ever, how  narrow  was  the  chasm  which  separated  the; 
masses  from  serfdom  or  even  slavery.  ■ 

We  know  from  emancipations  ejfiPected  by  Elizabeth  and 
affecting  considerable  numbers  of  coal-miners  that  serfdom 
was  not  extinct  as  late  as  the  closing  years  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  The  following  century  saw,  however,  the 
general  trend  of  opinion  turn  definitely  against  serfdom  and 
slavery. 

In  1674  Sir  Leoline  Jenkins  expressed  the  opinion  that 
there  was  no  such  thing  as  a  slave  in  England,  and  in  this 
opinion  he  must  be  regarded  as  using  the  term  slave  to 
include  serf.  All  doubts  were  finally  set  at  rest  by  the 
judgment  of  Lord  Mansfield  in  Sommersett's  case  (1772) 
when  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  decided  that  slavery  in 
England  was  illegal. 

In  Scotland,  however,  two  classes  of  labourer,  the  coal- 
miner  and  the  Salter,  remained  in  a  condition  of  serfdom  as 
late  as  1799.  It  is  not  certain  whether  this  was  the  result 
of  the  re-enslavement  of  these  workers  by  virtue  of  a 
Scots  Act  of  1606  or  whether  it  was  a  survival  of  that 
ancient  villeinage  which  had  certainly  not  died  out  at  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  was,  indeed,  in 
connexion  with  coal-miners  that  we  have  the  last  recorded 
act  of  wholesale  emancipations,  for  in  1574  Queen  Elizabeth 
manumitted  her  bond  miners  in  the  West  of  England.  In 
Northumberland  and  Durham  it  would  appear  that  the 
emancipation  of  the  miners  had  taken  place  somewhere 
about  1460,  for  in  that  year,  for  the  first  time,  the  accounts 

1  The  State  of  the  Poor. 
60 


EMANCIPATION 

of  the  Finchale  monks  contain  entries  relative  to  the  labour 
charges  for  getting  the  coal.  The  tin-miners  of  Cornwall, 
the  lead-miners  of  Derbyshire,  and  the  iron-miners  of  the 
Forest  of  Dean  were  probably  all  emancipated  before  the 
middle  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

The  Scots  miners  and  salters  were  thus,  in  the  words  of 
Dr  Galloway,  "  the  last  section  of  the  population  of  Great 
Britain  to  taste  the  sweets  of  freedom."  In  1775  an  Act 
had  been  passed  providing  that,  except  as  regards  persons 
then  employed  in  the  industry,  colliers  should  be  treated 
as  free  labourers.  This  was  hardly  actuated  so  much  by 
humanitarian  sentiments  as  by  a  desire  to  attract  labour  to 
the  mines,  which  were  greatly  in  need  of  men.  But  once 
Hberty  had  been  extended  to  a  portion  of  the  persons 
employed  in  the  industry  it  was  found  impossible  to  retain 
serf  labour,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  bondman  in  Scotland 
had  become  but  a  memory  twenty-four  years  later.  It  is 
of  interest  to  note  that  the  enfranchised  serfs  were  by  no 
means  delighted  with  the  change  which  they  in  their 
ignorance  were  unable  to  appreciate.  They  reviled  their 
late  lords,  complaining  that  it  was  but  a  trick  to  escape  the 
payment  of  the  harigild  money — a  payment  made  to  the 
serf  when  the  serf's  wife  bore  him  a  child  and  so  increased 
the  lord's  property. 

Colonial  Slavery 

While  in  the  United  Kingdom  serfdom  was  dying  out 
and  slavery  was  being  declared  illegal,  three  statutes 
passed  in  the  eighteenth  century  (10  William  III,  c.  26; 
25  Geo.  II,  c.  7;  32  Geo.  II,  c.  31)  made  legal  the  owner- 
ship of  slaves  in  the  colonies — including  the  then  colony  of 
America.  It  was  not  until  1806  that  the  slave  trade  was 
prohibited,  while  in  1834,  largely  due  to  the  agitation  set 
on  foot  by  the  Quakers  and  ably  pressed  home  by  William 
Wilberforce,  colonial  slavery  was  abolished. 

Such  abolition  did  not,  of  course,  apply  to  colonies  or 
protectorates  which  have  since  come  within  the  British 
Empire.     A    considerable    volume   of    slave-trading   still 

61 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

continued  throughout  the  whole  of  Northern  Africa  and 
was  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  the  Arabs. 

This  abominable  traffic  had  for  long  been  the  main, 
almost  the  only,  form  of  export  trade  developed  in  Africa, 
In  the  words  of  Sir  H.  H.  Johnston : 

Great  '  ghazzias,'  great  warlike  expeditions  for  the  collection 
of  hundreds  and  thousands  of  slaves,  did  not  begin — so  far  as  we 
know — till  Islam  was  '  going  strong '  in  Tropical  Africa,  in  the 
lands  of  the  Negroes.  The  Portuguese  and  Spaniards  were 
inducted  into  this  business  by  the  Moors  ;  and  the  other  mari- 
time peoples  of  Europe,  who  were  colonizing  America,  outdid  the 
Portuguese.  And  so  the  New  World  came,  in  course  of  time, 
to  have  a  Negro  and  Negroid  population  of  twenty-five  millions  ; 
and  interior  Africa,  for  at  least  three  centuries,  was  in  a  state  of 
continual  uproar  and  devastating  tribal  conflicts.^ 

The  question  of  the  enslavement  of  coloured  peoples,  a 
question  now  definitely  settled  in  favour  of  liberty,  is  not 
one  which  we  propose  to  pursue  in  this  book.  It  is  instruc- 
tive, however,  to  note  that  whereas  the  natives  who  worked 
under  the  German  regime  on  the  cocoa  plantations  of  the 
Cameroons  were  in  a  semi-servile  condition,  the  natives 
who  worked  on  the  cocoa  plantations  of  the  British  Gold 
Coast  were  completely  free;  the  circumstances  of  cultiva- 
tion in  the  two  countries  were  similar;  the  same  oppor- 
tunities were  open  to  both.  In  1912  the  plantations  of  the 
German  Cameroons  exported  3,500  tons  of  cacao  beans, 
those  of  the  British  Gold  Coast  exported  38,000  tons.  The 
area  and  population  of  the  former  exceed  the  latter.  It 
would  therefore  appear  that  in  these  later  days,  as  in  earlier 
ages,  the  truth  of  the  maxim  that  the  bondman  works  no 
more  than  he  must  has  again  been  proved. 

The  English  nation  has,  indeed,  a  right  to  be  proud  of 
the  manner  in  which  it  has  opposed  at  first  slavery  within 
the  realm  and  later  slavery  without  the  realm.  It  was 
mainly  in  order  to  suppress  the  slave  trade  that  the  British 
embarked  upon   those  expeditions  which  were  to  result 

^  The  Sea  Commonwealth,  edited  by  Dr.  A.  P,  Newton,  chapter  v. 
62 


EMANCIPATION 

in  the  colonization  of  a  large  part  of  the  Bight  of  Benin, 
and  it  was  also  the  better  to  enable  her  to  suppress  slavery 
that  Britain  received  under  her  protection  that  wide  territory 
known  as  the  East  Africa  Protectorate. 

In  the  earlier  days  of  our  African  colonization,  it  is  true, 
a  different  attitude  existed.  Again  to  quote  Sir  H.  H. 
Johnston,  we  may  say  that : 

The  principle  of  the  external  slave  trade  with  Africa,  which 
haunted  the  European  conception  of  a  *  colonial '  policy,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  principle  of  internal  slavery.  The  Americas  were 
closed  or  closing  against  the  importation  of  servile  labour  from 
Africa.  But  the  European  or  Europeanised  powers  then  govern- 
ing Africa  had  conceived  the  idea  of  cultivating  or  exploiting 
Africa  itself  by  negro  serfs.  In  Egypt,  Abyssinia,  Morocco, 
Zanzibar,  the  outspoken  ruling  classes  called  a  slave  a  slave  and 
treated  him  not  at  all  badly.  In  all  Moslem  Africa,  once  the  initial 
harm  was  done  of  the  slave  raid  or  the  provoked  inter-tribal  war 
which  produced  the  supply  of  slaves,  once  the  weary  journey  to 
the  north  or  the  east  was  accomplished,  the  lot  of  the  exiled 
Negro  was  an  easy  and  often  a  happy  and  honourable  one.  But 
in  the  European-governed  Africa  of  the  sixties,  and  even  down 
to  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century,  the  principle  of  helotry 
for  the  indigenous  populations  under  control  came  into  being, 
though  it  was  disguised  under  many  pleasant  names  and  high- 
sounding  policies.  The  Negro  was  to  have  no  rights,  no  terri- 
torial claims  in  the  land  of  his  birth  and  industry;  and  the  gains 
or  profits  resulting  from  the  control  of  his  country  were  to  be 
spent,  not  on  his  land,  but  on  the  European  state  that  had  taken 
possession.  The  'native'  was  to  be  the  serf  of  the  glebe  in 
exchange  for  being  allowed  to  live  free  from  the  terrors  of  native 
rule.^ 

The  outcry  occasioned  by  what  has  been  termed  the 
Leopoldian  regime  in  the  Congo  assisted  a  movement  which 
had  already  begun,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  result  of  the  land 
agitation  in  the  Gold  Coast  from  1 895-1 900.  Once  again 
Great  Britain,  by  her  example  in  West  Africa,  showed  the 
way.  The  rights  of  the  Fantis  to  the  land  of  their  country 
were  fully  recognized,  and  the  Government  assumed  the  role 
1  Tie  Sea  Commonwealth^  chapter  v. 

63 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

not  of  serf-maker,  but  of  adviser,  protector,  guide — even 
schoolmaster,  if  you  will.  The  same  change  of  attitude 
was  noticeable  in  the  opening  years  of  the  twentieth  century 
on  the  part  of  France,  the  United  States,  and  Belgium, 
though  Germany  still  lagged  behind,  its  stiff  feudal 
phalanx  forming  an  obstacle  to  this  army  of  progress. 

Even  to-day,  of  course,  slavery  exists  in  many  parts  of 
Africa  and  even  in  some  of  those  parts  under  British  pro- 
tection. For  example,  in  East  Africa  slavery  is  still  known, 
though  it  is  opposed  to  English  policy  and  must  die  out 
when  the  existing  slaves  no  longer  live.  English  reports 
will  be  found,  however,  in  which  as  late  as  1898  in  East 
Africa  the  law  of  slavery  has  had  to  be  considered,^  for 
domestic  slavery  is  recognized  in  the  coast  strip.  Since 
1890,  however,  new  slaves  cannot  be  acquired,  and  all 
persons,  though  the  children  of  slaves,  are  born  free. 

American  Slavery 

It  may,  therefore,  be  fairly  said  that  England  steadily 
opposed  slavery,  even  the  enslavement  of  coloured  races, 
from  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  this,  for 
more  than  fifty  years,  she  was  at  variance  with  the  policy 
pursued  by  America,  her  quondam  colony. 

As  the  American  economist  Dr  Carlton  has  said : 

The  establishment  and  continuation  of  the  slave  system  on 
the  American  continent  centuries  after  its  disappearance  in 
Northern  Europe  must  be  attributed  to  two  co-operating  causes  : 
the  presence  of  abundant  land  and  the  wide  racial  differences 
between  masters  and  slaves.  In  the  North  natural  causes,  chief 
amongst  which  were  the  climate,  the  existence  of  small  farms 
instead  of  wide  plantations,  and  the  growth  of  industry  rather 
than  the  spread  of  agriculture,  were  responsible  for  the  decline 
of  the  slave  system.^ 

1  Thus,  in  the  case  of  Salim  B.  Abdulla  v.  Fatima  binte  Hauris  it  was 
decided  in  1898  that  a  person  laying  claim  to  slaves  in  the  possession  of 
another  must  produce  evidence  in  support  of  the  claim,  though  the  defendant 
alleges  purchase.    Even  later  cases  could  be  cited. 

2  History  and  Problems  of  Organised  Labour. 

64 


EMANCIPATION 

The  industrialist  of  North  America  in  the  nineteenth 
century  rediscovered  the  fact,  known  to  the  feudal  eccle- 
siastic, that  the  bondman  will  not  produce  more  than  he 
must.  But  in  the  South,  with  free  labour  scarce  and 
Nature  fruitful,  the  slave  labourer  was  economically  success- 
ful, and  it  needed  something  more  than  the  invective  of  a 
Jefferson  or  the  rhetoric  of  an  Abraham  Lincoln  to  persuade 
the  South  to  emancipate  the  slaves.  The  Civil  War  was 
fought,  as  the  great  World  War  was  fought,  to  win  Liberty. 
Liberty  was  won,  and  with  that  victory  slavery  disappeared 
from  the  policy  of  all  English-speaking  peoples. 

But  slavery  is  a  word  of  many  meanings.  The  slavery 
we  have  so  far  spoken  of  is  legal  slavery,  a  status  which  in 
the  eye  of  the  law  approximates  a  human  being  to  a  chattel, 
subjects  him  to  ownership,  and  leaves  him  rightless,  it 
may  be  absolutely,  it  may  be  relatively.  But  though  the 
status  of  the  individual  may  not  be  that  of  the  slave,  the 
circumstances  of  his  existence  can  be  equally  deplorable. 

Such,  to  no  small  extent,  was  the  position  of  those 
indentured  servants,  those  kidnapped  children,  those  time- 
expired  criminals,  those  adventurous  yokels,  seeking  with 
their  maids  their  fortune  in  the  wonderful  lands  of  America 
and  Australia,  who  were  taken,  were  sent,  or  went  across 
the  oceans  to  those  new  worlds.  Such,  too,  was  the  con- 
dition of  those  pauper  apprentices  bound  to  labour  hard 
for  hard  masters  that  was  a  common  feature  in  the  indus- 
trial life  of  the  England  of  the  forties  and  fifties  of  last 
century;  such,  too,  were  the  circumstances  of  those  who  in 
our  own  times  worked  by  day  and  by  night  for  some  poor 
pittance  at  the  'sweated  trades.'  The  serf  is  dead;  the 
slave  is  legally  extinct  these  many  years.  The  worker  is 
no  longer  oppressed,  but  he  has  arrived  at  his  present 
station  only  within  very  recent  times. 


65 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  GILDS 

THE  gilds  played  such  an  important  part  in  medieval 
industry  that  no  history  of  labour  can  ignore  their 
existence,  but  it  should  be  fully  understood  that 
there  is  no  historical  connexion  between  the  medieval  gild 
and  the  modern  trade  union.  It  is  true  that  some  authori- 
ties, and  in  particular  Dr  Brentano,  have  asserted  the 
contrary,  but  to  us  it  appears  clear  that  Mr  Sidney  Webb's 
view  that  these  two  forms  of  association  are  historically  dis- 
tinct is  the  better.  In  essence  the  gild  was  an  association 
of  masters  rather  than  of  men. 

Equally  unfounded  is  the  view  that  the  gilds  are  the  de- 
scendants of  the  Roman  worker's  collegia.  As  M.  Levasseur 
says,  when  speaking  of  the  French  cor-ps  de  metier^  eleven  cen- 
turies had  rolled  by  since  the  Roman  collegia  had  been  in 
operation  in  France  before  the  corps  de  metier  arose,  and 
during  that  period  the  barbarian  invasions  had  either 
violently  destroyed  or  had  dissolved  little  by  little  all  the 
Roman  institutions;  moreover  the  whole  framework  of 
society  had  been  entirely  transformed  by  the  feudal  system. 
Even  in  Italy,  where  Roman  institutions  had  persisted  to  a 
much  greater  extent  than  in  France  or  in  England,  there  is 
no  positive  evidence  of  the  descent  of  the  medieval  craft 
associations  from  the  Roman  collegia. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  M.  Fagniez  has  pointed  out, 
the  gild  had  very  little  to  do  with  the  emancipation 
of  the  serf  or  with  the  creation  of  the  free  town.  It 
had,  however,  in  our  opinion  a  considerable  influence  on 
the  development,  expansion,  and  prosperity  of  the  free 
towns. 
66 


THE    GILDS 

Origins 

It  has  been  suggested  with  some  assurance  by  both 
Toulmin  Smith  and  Dr  Brentano  that  the  craft  and 
merchant  gilds  were  descended  from  the  earHer  social 
gilds.  It  is  doubtful,  however,  to  what  extent  this  can 
be  accepted  as  correct.  We  prefer  M.  Levasseur's  view 
that  the  craft  gild  sprang  from  associations  of  serfs  exer- 
cising the  same  occupation  under  the  direction  of  an 
officer  deputed  for  their  management  by  the  seigneurial 
lord  who  owned  them,  and  that  this  form  of  association 
passed  through  various  evolutionary  forms  with  the 
passing  of  time,  slowly  changing  with  the  change  of 
social  conditions,  until  at  length  the  association  of  the 
unfree  controlled  by  a  delegate  of  their  lord  became  an 
association  of  free  men  controlled  by  the  representatives  of 
its  members. 

That  is,  we  consider,  the  most  probable  way  in  which 
the  gilds  evolved.  But  gilds  did  not  always  evolve  ;  some- 
times, and  as  time  passed  frequently,  they  were  created. 
They  sprang  into  being  ready  made,  as  it  were,  by  the 
grant  of  some  charter.  But  it  is  obvious  that  even  in 
such  a  case  there  must  have  been  in  existence  some 
unified  body  capable  of  receiving  and  accepting  the  charter, 
for  a  grant  involves  a  grantee  and  an  acceptance  of  the 
grant. 

There  is  one  aspect  of  the  creation  of  gilds  of  some 
importance  for  our  present  purpose  which  we  do  not  find 
regarded  by  any  of  the  numerous  authorities  who  have 
treated  of  gild  origins.  The  point  may,  perhaps,  be 
expressed  as  follows  : 

Originally,  as  we  have  seen,  labour  was  almost  entirely 
servile.  Emancipation  was  brought  about  partly  by 
individual  enfranchisements  or  manumissions,  but  mainly 
by  collective  emancipations.  Such  a  course  of  develop- 
ment must  obviously  have  resulted  in  a  state  of  affairs  in 
which,  apart  from  special  protection,  the  free  labourer 
or  worker  would  have  been  subjected  to  unfair  com- 
petition from  unfree  and  excessively  cheap  labour.     The 

67 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

free  man  had  to  maintain  himself  and  his  dependents  by 
his  own  labour;  the  unfree  man  was  often  maintained, 
and  so  were  his  dependents,  by  his  lord,  and  if  that  lord 
cared,  it  may  be  as  an  act  of  charity,  to  permit  his  villein 
to  devote  a  part  of  his  time  to  the  making  of  goods  for 
sale  on  the  villein's  account,  such  goods  could  obviously 
be  used  to  undersell  the  free  man's  product  and  thus  in 
effect  be  used  for  cutting  prices  and  thence  wages. 

This  form  of  unfair  competition  must  of  necessity  have 
arisen  had  not  some  such  system  as  that  of  the  gild  existed 
to  prevent  it.  The  gild,  indeed,  would  seem,  like  the 
trade  union,  to  have  been  an  association  to  improve 
the  condition  of  the  worker ;  both  depend  for  their 
existence  upon  the  need  for  that  collective  action  which 
is  the  soul  of  social  strength.  With  that  similarity  the 
comparison  ends. 

As  we  see  the  matter,  at  first  there  would  be  a  group 
of  serfs  working  in  the  same  or  allied  crafts.  Their 
activities  would  be  controlled  by  a  seigneurial  officer. 
They  would  frequently  meet  in  the  course  of  their  labours 
and  would  in  many  cases  be  friends.  Their  social  inter- 
course and  friendship  would  be  increased  and  strengthened 
by  the  fact  of  their  membership  in  the  same  social  gild— 
for  it  is  clear  that  the  social  gild  existed  in  very  early 
times  in  England.  Then  it  would  happen  that  the  lord 
decided  on  the  emancipation  of  the  whole  vill  or  town 
in  which  these  workers  dwelt.  The  experience  of  others, 
or,  in  the  earlier  times  when  the  experience  of  others 
was  not  available,  the  force  of  circumstances,  would  soon 
show  the  need  for  this  new  body  of  free  men  to  band 
together  to  protect  their  livelihood,  whether  their  earnings 
were  obtained  by  work  or  trade.  The  natural  form 
of  association  would  be  something  which  bore  a  strong 
resemblance  to  the  social  gild,  of  which  they  had  full 
experience,  and  for  which,  doubtless,  they  had  the  warmest 
regard. 

But  before  they  could  exercise  the  necessary  control  it 
would  be  necessary  in  many  instances,  certainly  when  it 
68 


THE    GILDS 

was  decided  to  hold  land  in  mortmain,  to  obtain  a  charter, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  we  frequently  find  charters  being 
given  granting  various  privileges  to  the  members  of  what 
had  previously  been  a  mere  association.  As  Toulmin 
Smith,  however,  pointed  out,  the  "  King's  license  was  not 
necessary  ...  to  the  foundation  of  a  gild."  Indeed, 
the  charter  did  not  incorporate  the  association,  it  merely 
recorded  ;  but  it  might  also,  and  generally  did,  give  special 
privileges  to  a  pre-existing  association.  Without  the 
grant  of  such  special  privileges  it  might  well  be  that  the 
association  would  be  held  illegal  at  common  law,  for  not 
infrequently  such  associations  did  considerably  interfere 
with  and  curtail  the  lawful  activities  of  persons  outside 
the  association. 

An  admirable  example  of  the  abuse  of  the  protective 
powers  of  the  gilds  is  to  be  seen  in  the  Placita  de  quo 
Warranto^  where  we  read  that  if  anyone  brought  leather, 
wool,  or  wool-fells  into  the  town  of  Derby  to  sell,  and  one 
of  the  gild  placed  his  foot  upon  the  thing  brought,  and  set 
a  price  for  which  he  was  prepared  to  buy  it,  no  one  but 
a  member  of  the  gild  would  dare  to  buy  it,  nor  would 
he  to  whom  it  belonged  dare  to  sell  it  to  anyone  save  a 
member  of  the  gild,  not  even  if  he  were  offered  a  higher 
price  by  somebody  else.  This  practice  was  found  by  the 
jury  to  be  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  borough,  and  as  a  con- 
sequence ceased.  It  was,  as  we  have  said,  an  abuse,  but 
we  see  in  it  a  practice  that  in  its  origin  had  as  its  purpose  the 
prevention  of  unfair  competition  from  cheap  outside  labour. 

Gild  and  Trade  Union 

We  have  already  indicated  that  the  gild  and  the  trade 
union  are  historically  unconnected  and  are  dissimilar.  The 
nature  of  the  dissimilarity  may  perhaps  be  made  clear  by 
a  consideration  of  the  general  nature  and  purpose  of 
the  gilds. 

Gilds  (apart  from  the  social  gilds)  were  of  two  main 
classes,  the  merchant  and  the  craft  gilds.  A  merchant 
gild,    broadly   speaking,    was    an    association   of   traders, 

69 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

merchants,  bankers  or  money  changers  and  lenders,  or 
the  like ;  a  craft  gild  was  composed  of  the  master-workers 
who  employed  journeymen  in  the  manufacture  of  articles, 
and  sometimes,  and  indeed  generally,  also  included  the 
journeymen  and  exercised  control  over  apprentices  and 
apprenticing.  The  merchant  gilds  were  controlled  by 
the  wealthier  members  of  the  middle  classes  who  were  not 
handicraftsmen  ;  the  craft  gilds  were  controlled  by  the 
masters  of  crafts.  It  is  probably  an  anachronism  to  use 
modern  terms,  but  it  will  give  a  correct  impression  of 
what  was  in  fact  the  case  if  we  liken  the  merchant  gild 
to  a  capitalistic  association  or  trust  and  the  craft  gild  to  an 
employers'  association.  Of  workmen's  associations  there 
were,  at  first,  none,  but  later  certain  ephemeral  journey- 
men's associations  arose,  though  hardly  before  the  middle 
of  the  sixteenth  century. 

The  merchant  gilds  were  of  the  two  kinds  by  far  the 
more  powerful.  They  ruled  the  towns  to  no  small  extent, 
controlling  as  they  did  the  appointment  of  the  mayors  and 
the  city  or  borough  councils. 

The  Beverley  Gild 

The  charter  granted  to  the  great  gild  of  St  John  of 
Beverley,^  being  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  charters  left 
to  us,  is  perhaps  worth  quoting  in  extenso.  It  runs  as 
follows : 

Thurstan,  by  the  grace  of  God  Archbishop  of  York,  to  all  the 
faithful  in  Christ,  as  well  now  as  hereafter,  Greeting  ;  and  God's 
blessing  and  his  own. 

Be  it  known  to  you  that  I  have  given  and  granted,  and,  with 
the  advice  of  the  Chapter  of  York  and  Beverley  and  of  my  barons, 
have  by  my  charter  confirmed,  to  the  men  of  Beverley,  all  liberties, 
with  the  same  laws  that  the  men  of  York  have  in  their  city. 
Moreover,  be  it  not  unknown  to  you  that  the  Lord  Henry  our 
King  [Henry  IJ  has,  with  a  good  will,  granted  to  us  the  power 
of  making  this  [charter]  ;  and  has,  by  his  own  charter,  confirmed 

^  Printed  at  pp.  150-152  of  Toulmin  Smith's  English  Gilds,  from  which 
we  quote. 

70 


THE    GILDS 

our  statutes  and  our  laws,  after  the  manner  of  the  laws  of  the 
burgesses  of  York,  saving  what  behoves  to  God  and  St  John  and 
myself  and  the  canons  ;  that  so  he  might  uphold  and  enlarge  the 
honour  of  the  alms-deeds  of  his  predecessors.  With  all  these 
free  customs,  I  will  that  my  burgesses  of  Beverley  shall  have  their 
Hanshouse  which  I  give  and  grant  to  them  in  order  that  therein 
their  common  business  may  be  done,  in  honour  of  God  and 
St  John  and  the  canons,  and  for  the  amendment  of  the  whole 
town,  with  the  same  freedom  that  the  men  of  York  have  in 
their  Hanshouse.  I  also  grant  to  them  toll  for  ever,  for  xviij 
marks  a  year  ;  saving  on  the  three  feasts  on  which  toll  belongs 
to  us  and  the  canons,  namely,  on  the  feast  of  St  John  the  Con- 
fessor in  May,  and  the  feast  of  the  Translation  of  St  John,  and 
the  Nativity  of  St  John  Baptist.  On  these  three  feasts  I  have 
made  all  the  burgesses  of  Beverley  free  and  quit  of  every  toll. 
This  charter  also  bears  witness,  that  I  have  granted  to  the  same 
burgesses  free  right  of  coming  in  and  going  out  ;  namely,  within 
the  town  and  beyond  the  town,  in  plain  and  wood  and  marsh, 
in  ways  and  paths  and  other  easements,  save  in  meadows  and 
corn-fields,  as  good,  free,  and  large  as  any  one  can  grant  and 
confirm.  And  know  ye,  that  they  shall  be  free  and  quit  of  any 
toll  through  the  whole  shire  of  York,  like  as  the  men  of  York 
are.  And  I  will  that  whosoever  gainsays  this  shall  be  accursed, 
as  the  manner  of  cursing  is  in  the  Church  of  St  John,  and  as 
shall  be  adjudged  in  the  Church  of  St  John.  These  are  the 
witnesses  : 

[Witnesses  set  out.] 

The  Craft  Gild 

This  charter,  extending  privileges  hitherto  granted, 
increased  the  power  of  this  ancient  merchant  gild.  The 
worker,  however,  was  more  directly  affected  by  the 
operations  of  the  craft  gilds,  whose  ordinances  were  based 
sometimes  on  Act  of  Parliament,  sometimes  on  charter, 
and  sometimes  on  agreement  between  the  members. 
We  find  a  good  example  of  such  ordinances  in  those  of 
the  fullers  of  Lincoln,  a  craft  gild  founded  in  A.D.1297, 
which  provided,  inter  alia^  as  follows ; 

(i)  No  one  of  the  craft  shall  full  cloth  by  treading 
it  with  the  feet  in  the  trough. 

71 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

(2)  No  one  shall  work  after  dinner  on  Saturdays  or 
on  a  festival. 

(3)  No  one  shall  teach  the  craft  to  anyone  until 
the  pupil  has  made  a  small  payment  to  the  gild. 

(4)  No  thief  shall  be  allowed  in  the  gild. 

The  ordinances  further  contain  a  large  number  of  pro- 
visions relating  to  mutual  assistance,  loans  to  those  in  need, 
etc. 

As  Professor  Gross  has  said : 

The  gild  was  the  department  of  town  administration  whose 
duty  was  to  regulate  the  trade  monopoly.  This  was  the  raison 
d'etre  of  the  gild  merchant  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  ; 
but  the  privilege  was  often  construed  to  imply  broader  functions — 
the  general  regulation  of  trade  and  industry.^ 

It  is  rather  with  the  regulation  of  industry  as  distinct 
from  trade  that  we  are  at  present  concerned,  and  this 
branch  of  control,  as  we  have  said,  fell  rather  to  the  craft 
than  to  the  merchant  gild.  It  must  be  fully  borne  in 
mind,  however,  that  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  now 
speaking  the  business  of  trading  and  the  business  of 
manufacturing  were  not,  as  a  rule,  divorced  the  one 
from  the  other  as  they  are  to-day.  The  wares  which  the 
haberdasher  or  hatter  sold  in  his  booth  or  shop  were 
truly  manufactured,  i.e.,  made  by  hand  from  the  semi- 
'raw  material  composing  the  finished  product  by  the  haber- 
dasher or  hatter  and  his  journeymen,  serving-men,  and 
apprentices.  The  tradesman  was  also  a  craftsman ;  he 
did  not  restrict  himself  to  organizing  the  buying  and 
selling  of  goods  made  by  others.  It  is  this  fact  that 
makes  an  inquiry  into  the  operation  of  the  craft  gilds 
in  particular  and  of  the  merchant  gilds  to  a  limited 
extent  pertinent  to  our  present  purpose. 

In  connexion  with  the  general  regulation  of  *  trade,' 
as  meaning  handicraft,  we  frequently  find  reference  in  the 
gild  ordinances  to  rules  regulating  the  relationship  which 
we  should  to-day  designate  that  of  employer  and  employed. 

1  T/ie  Gild  Merchant. 
72 


THE    GILDS 

On  the  one  hand,  the  master  is  required  to  see  that  the 
products  of  his  shop  are  worthy  of  the  craft,  that  his 
employees  are  if  learners  properly  taught  and  if  journey- 
men properly  behaved.  The  obligation  of  governing  his 
little  world  was  placed  to  a  larger  extent  upon  the  master. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  controlling  influence  was  exercised 
by  the  gild  over  those  who  in  all  probability  would  be  the 
masters  of  to-morrow,  i.e.y  the  journeymen  and  apprentices. 
They  were  liable  to  be  punished  by  the  gild  if  they  did 
anything  contrary  to  the  ordinances  of  the  gild.  Such 
ordinances  sometimes  strike  at  covins,  i.e.^  collusive  agree- 
ments between  two  persons  to  the  prejudice  of  a  third, 
such  as  arrangements  to  force  up  wages  or  reduce  hours. 

Gild  Regulation 

It  is  here  that  we  find  the  gild  conception  most  strongly 
opposed  to  that  of  the  trade  union.  The  gild  was  by  no 
means  concerned  primarily  with  the  interests  of  the 
employee,  it  was  interested  rather  in  the  regulation  of  the 
craft.  No  clear  distinction  was  made  between  master 
and  man ;  between  such  there  was  no  absolute  distinction, 
but  only  a  relative  one.  The  man  might  almost  at  any 
moment  turn  into  the  master.  The  dividing  wall  between 
the  two  was  of  the  thinnest  description.  Though  it 
tended  to  become  stronger  as  time  passed,  it  did  not 
become  an  almost  impassable  barrier  until  after  the  rise 
of  a  factory  system  based  on  the  use  of  mechanical  power — 
a  system  which  rendered  it  necessary,  before  manufacture 
could  be  carried  on  adequately  and  at  a  profit,  for  much 
capital  to  be  invested  in  the  purchase  of  machinery. 

The  following  translations  of  the  old  Latin,  French,  and 
Old  English  gild  rules  relating  to  the  control  exercised  over 
master  and  man  show  the  attitude  of  the  old  craft  councils  : 

Decided  that  John  Rowlir  received  five  yards  of  blue  broad 
cloth  to  make  Mr  Robert  Rydon  a  gown,  and  that  Mr  Robert 
Rydon  complained  that  all  the  cloth  supplied  was  not  utilized, 
and  that  the  gown  was  examined  by  the  craft  and  it  was  found 
that  no  cloth  had  been  wasted  and  it  was  duly  proved  that  three- 

73 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

quarters  of  broad  cloth  was  returned  in  bits  as  appears  from  the 
patterns  of  black  paper  in  the  common  record  chest  and  which 
may  at  any  time  be  seen. 

In  the  above  case  the  tailor  was  proved  to  be  in  the  right. 
In  another  similar  case  where  Sir  John  Walkyngton  com- 
plained of  John  Kartor,  it  was  found  on  examination  of  the 
gown  that,  although  there  was  no  theft  of  cloth,  a  wastage 
of  a  quarter  had  occurred  through  *  lack  of  cunning,'  i.e.^ 
good  workmanship,  and  Kartor  was  ordered  to  pay  Sir  John 
eleven  shillings  for  the  cloth  and  keep  the  rejected  gown. 

Had  the  bad  workmanship  not  been  the  fault  of  a  craft 
brother  the  complaining  customer  would  have  been 
informed  by  the  masters  of  the  gild  that  he  must  proceed 
at  law.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  if  the  workman  was 
not  a  member  of  the  mystery,  but  his  master  was,  the  gild 
would  hold  the  master  liable.  Such  cases,  however,  could 
but  rarely  arise. 

The  gild  would  also  prevent  any  misbehaving  either  by 
the  master  against  his  men,  or  by  the  men  against  their 
master.  Thus  William  Pecke  unlawfully  chastised  John 
Lynch  his  servant;  he  bruised  his  arm  and  hurt  his  head. 
John  complained  to  the  master  and  wardens  of  the  gild, 
and  they,  after  inquiry,  directed  William  to  pay  ^s.  to  the 
leech  (or  doctor),  3^.  ^d.  for  maintenance  money,  and  25^. 
as  compensation,  together  with  a  fine  of  is.  Sd.  to  the  gild. 
On  the  other  hand,  by  the  Ordinances  of  the  Alien  Weavers 
of  London  {c.  1362)  regulations  were  made  striking  at  com- 
binations on  the  part  of  the  men  to  put  up  wages,  *'  by 
reason  whereof  the  masters  of  the  said  trade  were  in  great 
trouble,  and  the  people  left  unserved."  It  was  also 
provided  that  special  fines  should  be  payable  by  any  man 
of  the  craft  who  was  found  **  doing  mischief  in  the  way  of 
larceny."  Again,  by  the  Ordinances  of  the  White  Lawyers 
of  London  (c.  1346)  it  was  provided  that  "  if  any  serving- 
man  shall  conduct  himself  in  any  other  manner  than  properly 
toward  his  master,  and  act  rebelliously  toward  him,  no  one 
of  the  said  trade  shall  set  him  to  work  until  he  shall  have 
made  amends  before  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen." 

74 


THE    GILDS 

Early  Combinations 

An  interesting  account  of  a  dispute  which  arose  between 
the  master  saddlers  of  London  and  their  journeymen  in 
1396  may  be  found  in  the  English  Economic  History,  The 
masters  complained  that  the  serving-men 

had  influenced  the  journey-men  among  them  and  had  formed 
covins  thereon,  with  the  object  of  raising  their  wages  greatly  in 
excess  ;  to  such  an  extent,  namely,  that  whereas  a  master  in  the 
said  trade  could  before  have  had  a  serving-man  or  journey-man 
for  forty  shillings  or  five  marks  yearly,  and  his  board,  now  such 
a  man  would  not  agree  with  his  master  for  less  than  ten  or  twelve 
marks  or  even  ten  pounds  yearly  ;  to  the  great  deterioration  of 
the  trade. 

It  was  decided  that  in  future  the  serving-men  of  the 
trade  should  be  under  the  rule  of  the  masters  of  the  trade, 
**  the  same  as  the  serving-men  in  other  trades  in  the  same 
city  are  wont,  and  of  right  are  bound  to  be,"  and  that  no 
further  meetings  or  covins  should  be  had  under  penalty. 

Such  awards  as  the  above  would  normally  be  made  by 
the  masters  of  the  gild,  who,  in  turn,  would  be  elected  for  a 
limited  period  by  the  gild  brethren,  or,  it  may  be,  by  the 
brothers  and  sisters  of  the  gild — for  women  were  usually 
members.  The  penalty  incurred  by  failure  to  abide  by 
the  decision  of  the  gild  council  varied,  in  some  cases 
amounting  to  loss  of  gild  freemanship.  Thus  by  the 
Ordinances  of  the  Gild  of  Garlekhith,  London,  it  was  pro- 
vided that :  **  If  anyone  rebels  against  the  Wardens'  award 
and  order  he  shall  be  put  out  of  the  brotherhood  and  the 
one  in  whose  favour  the  award  was  shall  be  helped  to 
proceed  against  the  '  rebel  *  at  law."  ^     It  was  a  common 

1  Compare  the  Ordinances  of  the  Gild  of  the  Tailors  of  Lincoln,  which 
provide  as  follows : 

"  If  any  quarrel  or  strife  arises  between  any  brethren  or  sisteren  of  the 
gild  (which  God  forbid),  the  brethren  and  sisteren  shall,  with  the  advice 
of  the  Gracemen  and  Wardens,  do  their  best  to  make  peace  between  the 
parties,  provided  that  the  case  is  such  as  can  be  thus  settled  without  a 
breach  of  the  law.     And  whoever  will  not  obey  the  judgment  of  the  brethren, 

IS 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

rule,  however,  to  give  to  the  masters  of  the  gild  the  right  to 
consider  disputes  in  the  first  instance  and  on  failure  to 
settle  to  leave  the  parties  to  their  remedies  at  law.  Some- 
times, as  in  the  case  of  the  Gild  of  Holy  Cross,  Bishop's 
Lynn,  before  any  action  at  law  could  be  commenced 
against  a  gild  brother  the  leave  of  the  gild  had  to  be 
obtained. 

Friendly  Societies 

Frequently  it  was  provided  in  the  rules  of  the  gilds  that 
where  a  brother  had  suffered  misfortune  due  to  fortuitous 
circumstances  over  which  he  had  no  control,  such  help  and 
assistance  should  be  granted  as  would  enable  him  to  avoid 
destitution.  This  aid  had  to  do  something  more  than 
maintain  him  and  his  dependents  during  unemployment, 
or  assist  him  to  meet  such  expenses  as  burial  expenses,  for 
it  often  happened,  as  we  have  seen,  that  the  workman  was 
also  a  tradesman  whose  capital  would  consist  not  only  in 
his  skill,  but  also  in  a  stock-in-trade. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  widespread  fires  were  frequent,  and 
loss  due  to  civil  commotion  or  robbery  was  not  unknown. 
It  must,  therefore,  have  been  by  no  means  rare  for  a  brother 
to  find  himself  faced  with  ruin  owing  to  the  destruction 
of  his  premises  or  the  theft  of  his  goods,  for  the  insurance 
politiza  of  the  Italians  had  not  yet  been  invented.  In  such 
circumstances  the  gild  would  come  to  the  assistance  of  the 
unfortunate  brother.  Thus  in  the  case  of  the  Gild  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  Hull,  we  find  provision  made  for  the 
loan  of  a  small  sum  to  enable  a  member  who  has  "  through 
mishap,  become  so  poor  that  help  is  much  needed  "  to 

shall  lose  his  gildship,  unless  he  thinks  better  of  it  within  three  days,  and 
then  he  shall  pay  a  stone  of  wax,  unless  he  have  grace." 

This  principle  of  compulsory  arbitration  is  one  of  great  importance,  for 
it  must  be  remembered  that,  as  a  rule,  the  gild  of  any  particular  craft  in 
any  particular  town  would  embrace  practically  the  whole  of  the  masters 
and  men  and  apprentices  engaged  in  that  craft.  It  would  appear  to 
follow  that  disputes  over  conditions  of  work  would  be  disputes  between 
gild  brothers  and  would  accordingly  have  to  be  settled  by  the  gild  under 
pain  of  very  heavy  penalties. 

76 


THE    GILDS 

follow  **  his  proper  business  or  work  in  such  manner  as 
seems  to  him  best."  ^  Provisions  allowing  the  making  of 
loans  to  members  are  to  be  found  in  very  many  of  the  gild 
ordinances,  but  it  was  always  the  policy  of  the  gild  masters 
to  encourage  self-help  and  self-respect,  and  accordingly  the 
help  given  was  only  enough  to  enable  the  member  by  dint 
of  hard  work  to  overcome  his  temporary  difficulties.  In 
the  Liber  Albus  there  is  an  ordinance  in  which  it  is  stated 
that  no  help  will  be  given  to  a  brother  who  is  lazy,  who  will 
not  work  a  due  number  of  hours,  and  who  "lies  too  long 
a-bed."  A  good  example  of  the  attitude  adopted  toward  the 
member  who  meets  with  misfortune  due  to  no  fault  of  his 
own  and  toward  the  member  who  is  responsible  by  his  folly 
for  his  evil  situation  is  to  be  found  in  the  Ordinances  of  the 

^  Compare  the  following,  from  English  Gilds,  by  Mr  and  Miss  Toulmin 
Smith  : 

(i)  Gild  of  Kyllyngholm,  Lincolnshire  : 

"  If  a  brother  or  a  sister  is  unlucky  enough  to  lose  a  beast  worth 
half  a  mark,  every  brother  and  every  sister  shall  give  a  halfpenny 
towards  getting  another  beast. 

"  If  the  house  of  any  brother  or  sister  is  burnt  by  mishap,  every 
brother  and  every  sister  shall  give  a  halfpenny  towards  a  new  house. 

"  Moreover,  if  the  house  of  any  brother  or  sister  is  broken  into  by 
robbers,  and  goods  carried  off  worth  half  a  mark,  every  brother  and 
every  sister  shall  give  a  halfpenny  to  help  him." 

(2)  Gild  of  Palmers,  Ludlow  : 

"  When  it  happens  that  any  brethren  or  sisteren  of  the  gild  shall 
have  been  brought  to  such  want,  through  theft,  fire,  shipwreck,  fall 
of  a  house,  or  any  other  mishap,  that  they  have  not  enough  to  live  on  : 
then  once,  twice,  and  thrice,  but  not  a  fourth  time,  as  much  help  shall 
be  given  to  them,  out  of  the  goods  of  the  gild,  as  the  Rector  and 
Stewards,  having  regard  to  the  deserts  of  each,  and  to  the  means  of 
the  gild,  shall  order  ;  so  that  whoever  bears  the  name  of  this  gild  shall 
be  upraised  again,  through  the  ordinances,  goods,  and  help  of  his 
brethren." 

(3)  Gild  of  the  Holy  Cross,  Stratford-upon-Avon: 

"  Also,  if  it  happens  that  any  brother  or  sister  has  been  robbed  or 
has  fallen  into  poverty,  then,  so  long  as  he  bears  himself  well  and 
rightly  towards  the  brethren  and  sisteren  of  the  gild,  they  shall  find 
him  in  food  and  clothing  and  what  else  he  needs." 

n 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Gild  of  the  Blessed   Mary,  Chesterfield,   which  provides 
that  : 

If,  in  the  haps  of  life,  heavy  loss  befalls  any  brother,  whether 
by  fire,  by  murrain,  by  robbery,  or  by  any  other  mishap — so 
that  such  loss  come  not  through  his  own  lust,  or  gluttony,  or 
dice-play,  or  other  folly — each  brother  shall  give  him,  in  relief 
of  his  loss,  at  the  first,  twopence  ;  and  again,  if  he  needs  it,  two- 
pence more  ;  and  yet  a  third  time,  if  necessary,  twopence. 

But  though  the  gild  in  its  capacity  of  friendly  society 
and  social  club  rendered  the  greatest  assistance  to  the  poor 
brother  or  sister  who  had  fallen  on  evil  days,  there  is  much 
evidence  that  they  were  associations  of  masters  rather  than 
of  men.  We  have  already  indicated,  however,  that  this  dis- 
tinction of  classes  is  hardly  apposite  for  the  period  of  which 
we  are  now  speaking.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  fundamentally 
wrong  to  regard  the  gilds  as  associations  for  the  protection 
of  the  worker.  To  use  the  expression  found  in  the  return 
made  by  the  Gild  of  St  Michael  on  the  Hill,  Lincoln,  the 
gilds  comprised  "  folk  of  common  and  middling  rank,"  and 
there  is  much  evidence  to  show  that  control  was  exercised 
by  the  middle,  rather  than  by  the  common,  classes. 

The  Gild  Control  of  Labour 

The  journeymen  and  apprentices  were  denied  the  right 
of  combination,  as  we  have  seen.  They  were  required  to 
work  such  hours  and  at  such  a  wage  as  the  gild  thought 
right  and  proper.  They  were  placed  under  the  *  govern- 
ance *  of  their  masters.  They  were  not  allowed  to  leave 
their  employment  in  breach  of  agreement,  and  by  the  ordin- 
ances of  some  gilds,  such  as  that  of  the  tailors  of  Lincoln, 
no  master  of  the  craft  was  permitted  to  employ  *'  a  lad  or 
server  of  another  master  for  one  day  after  he  has  well  known 
that  the  lad  wrongly  left  his  master,  and  that  they  had  not 
parted  in  a  friendly  and  reasonable  manner."  In  some 
cases  all  workmen  in  a  given  craft  were  compelled  to  enter 
the  gild  of  the  town  in  which  they  worked.  Thus  the 
Gild  of  the  Tylers  of  Lincoln  provided  that :  **  No  tyler 
or  pointer  shall  stay  in  the  city  unless  he  enters  the  gild." 

78 


THE    GILDS 

Importance  of  the  Gilds 

There  can  be,  however,  no  doubt  that  the  gilds,  as 
societies  for  mutual  self-help,  for  the  control  of  trade  and 
of  persons  engaged  in  crafts,  were  throughout  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  even  after  that  era  may  be  regarded  as  having 
ended,  social  necessities.  The  gilds  in  the  fourteenth 
century  represent  one  of  the  most  remarkable  social 
developments  of  the  time.  Hazlitt  calculated  that  by  the 
reign  of  Richard  II  there  were  upward  of  forty  thousand 
merchant  and  livery  (craft  or  social)  gilds  in  England. 
Their  development  was  extraordinarily  rapid,  for  though 
some  of  the  social  gilds  went  back  to  early  times,  and  though 
the  charters  of  the  merchant  and  livery  gilds  which  have 
been  preserved  are  sometimes  expressed  as  confirming 
earlier  grants,  it  is  not  probable  that  such  grants  frequently 
date  before  the  Conquest.  The  first  distinct  reference  to 
a  merchant  gild  is,  as  Gross  pointed  out,  contained  in  a 
charter  granted  by  Robert  Fitz-Hamon  to  the  burgesses 
of  Burford,  c.  1 08  7-1 107.  We  scarcely  find  any  other 
references  to  the  gilds  in  the  Pipe  Rolls,  except  only  to  the 
weavers'  gild,  until  the  closing  years  of  Henry  II.  From 
that  time  onward,  however,  the  gilds  were  becoming  more 
and  more  important  and  numerous,  and  frequent  references 
to  gilda  adulterina  are  to  be  found — such  gilds  being  heavily 
fined  for  exercising  privileges  without  a  charter,  which  had 
now  become  necessary. 

As  time  went  on  many  of  the  gilds  became  wealthy  and 
possessed  valuable  properties,  both  real  and  personal.  We 
find  them,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Gild  of  St  Nicholas,  Wor- 
cester, founding  almshouses  and  schools,  appointing 
schoolmasters  of  adequate  learning,^  who  taught  the  children 

1  In  the  case  of  the  gild  cited  the  schoolmaster  at  the  time  when  Henry 
VIII's  commissioners  were  inquiring  into  the  affairs  of  the  gild  was  John 
Oliver,  B.A.,  who  had  about  a  hundred  pupils  and  who  received  a  stipend 
of  ten  pounds  a  year,  the  equivalent  of  the  wage  which  the  serving-men  of 
the  saddlers  in  London  were  claiming  in  the  fourteenth  century.  The 
commissioners  have  left  it  on  record  that  John  Oliver  was  "  thirty  years  of 
age,  well  learned,  and  of  honest  conversation." 

79 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

of  the  gildsmen  free.     A  far  more  famous  example  of  such  a 
gild  school  has  lived  on  until  to-day — the  Merchant  Taylors*. 

Confiscation 

The  wealth  of  the  gilds  proved  their  undoing,  for  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII,  under  the  Act  for  the  Dissolution 
of  Colleges,  many  of  their  foundations  were  vested  in  the 
Crown,  this  act  of  confiscation  being  completed  and  much 
extended  by  an  Act  of  Edward  VI,  which,  in  conjunction 
with  the  former  Act,  vested  all  the  manors,  lands,  tenements, 
and  other  hereditaments  belonging  to  the  gilds,  except  such 
as  were  trading  gilds,  in  the  Crown,  who  in  turn  handed 
such  properties  to  those  courtiers  who  at  the  moment  were 
most  in  favour. 

This  great  blow  struck  at  the  private  ownership  of  those 
of  "  common  and  middling  rank  "  terminated  the  scholastic 
and  benevolent  activities  of  many  of  the  most  flourishing 
of  the  medieval  associations.  The  London  gilds,  being 
trading  gilds  to  a  large  extent,  remained  unaffected,  and 
remain  to-day  examples  of  institutions  that  have  long 
outgrown  their  original  purposes.  Certain  towns,  notably 
Lynn  and  Coventry,  had  the  confiscated  estates  returned 
to  them,  but  in  the  main  the  benevolent,  religious,  and 
educational  work  done  by  the  gilds  was  of  necessity  at  an 
end.  Well  might  Lever,  a  contemporary,  say  in  effect  to 
the  King,  Edward  VI,  with  great  boldness  and  truth :  "  Now 
many  grammar  schools,  and  much  charitable  provision  for 
the  poor  be  taken,  sold,  and  made  away,  to  the  great  slander 
of  you  and  your  laws,  to  the  utter  discomfort  of  the  poor, 
to  the  grievous  offence  of  the  people,  to  the  most  miserable 
drowning  of  youth  in  ignorance,  and  for  decay  of  the 
Universities." 

In  a  truncated  form,  however,  the  gilds  still  lived  on 
and  continued  many  of  the  practices  relative  to  the  control 
and  management  of  craftsmen,  which  had  been  for  centuries 
one  of  their  distinguishing  features.  But  as  the  learned 
authors  of  the  English  Economic  History  ^  say : 

^  Edited  by  Messrs  Bland,  Brown,  and  Tawney. 
80 


THE    GILDS 

Inside  the  gilds  ...  a  momentous  change  was  going  on. 
The  fifteenth  century  had  seen  the  rise  within  gilds  of  '  yeo- 
manry '  organizations  consisting  of  journeymen,  ...  In  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  the  gilds,  at  least  in  the 
larger  towns,  represented  a  wide  range  of  interests,  from  the 
mercantile  capitalist  to  the  industrial  small  master,  and  it  was 
often  of  such  small  masters,  whose  numbers  appear  to  have 
increased  in  the  sixteenth  century,  that  the  '  yeomanry '  then 
consisted.  They  tended,  however,  to  be  at  the  mercy  of  the 
large  capitalists,  and  occasionally,  under  the  first  two  Stuarts, 
who  favoured  them,  they  endeavoured  to  protect  themselves  by 
joint-stock  enterprise.  In  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century 
a  reverse  movement  was  taking  place.  Small  masters  were  becom- 
ing journeymen,  and  in  London  journeymen  were  engaged  under 
the  Commonwealth  in  active  agitation.  Their  organization  was 
that  of  an  embryo  trade  union. 

The  gild  was  beginning  to  be,  indeed,  something 
different  in  kind  from  what  it  once  had  been.  Almost 
from  the  beginning  this  form  of  association,  which  had 
commenced  as  an  association  of  equals,  tended  to  become 
plutocratic  in  government.  Little  by  little  the  tendency 
became  more  marked.  Protective  rules,  designed  at  first 
to  prevent  unfair  competition,  degenerated  into  monopo- 
listic regulations.  One  example  we  have  already  glanced 
at.^  It  was  not,  however,  until  the  sixteenth  century  that 
the  evil  became  marked  and  it  began  to  be  apparent  that 
the  gilds  might,  by  a  misuse  of  their  power,  and  in  some 
cases  did,  cause  real  hardship  to  the  community  or  to 
persons  not  within  their  membership.  When  such  abuses 
became  general  the  decline  of  the  gilds  was  foredoomed. 

^  See  p.  69. 


81 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  MASTER  WORKER 

A  T  the  commencement  of  what  we  may  term  the 
/  \  gild  era,  industry,  as  we  have  seen,  was  local 
X  ^and  handicraft  was  entirely  domestic.  The  gild 
organization  was  largely  responsible  for  the  extension  and 
development  of  trade,  so  that  by  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
century  trade  had  become  international  and  many  industries 
were  highly  developed.  Knowledge  had  ceased  to  be 
localized.  But  throughout  the  medieval  period  and  to 
a  great  extent  until  well  into  the  eighteenth  century, 
industrial  work  remained  domestic.  This  was  so  both 
in  England  and  throughout  Europe.  Indeed,  the  structure 
of  industrial  society  was  singularly  alike  in  France,  in  Italy, 
the  Low  Countries,  and  in  England.  Those  who  read 
Etienne  Boileau's  Livre  des  mestiers,  a  work  of  the  mid- 
thirteenth  century,  will  get  a  picture  of  industrial  life 
which  is  in  almost  every  particular  the  same  as  that  which 
rises  before  our  eyes  as  we  peruse  the  ordinances  and 
returns  of  the  English  gilds.  What  we  have  to  say, 
therefore,  in  the  present  chapter  may  be  regarded  as 
descriptive  of  the  hierarchy  of  industry  both  in  England 
and  on  the  Continent. 

The  world  of  work  was  divided  into  three  main 
divisions :  the  master  workers  (old  French  maistres,  or 
mestreSy  modern  French  mattres) ;  the  journeyman  (old 
French  varlets^  vallez^  valles^  or  valets) ;  the  apprentices 
(old  and  modern  French  apprentis).  Modern  French  has 
no  word  exactly  reproducing  the  meaning  of  valets^  for 
neither  ouvrier  nor  artisan  indicates  the  distinction  between 
the  journeyman  and  his  master,  for  the  master  was  also 
a  workman  and  an  artisan,  and  was  frequently  referred  to 
as  such. 
82 


THE    MASTER    WORKER 

The  Apprentice 

The  apprenticeship  system  was  a  fundamental  part  of 
the  gild  policy.  The  gild  was  a  protective  organization 
designed  to  prevent,  above  all  things,  the  oppression  of  its 
members  either  by  the  king  or  a  lord,  or  by  unfair  com- 
petition, or  by  excessive  competition.  It  gained  pro- 
tection against  the  first  form  of  oppression  by  charter, 
against  the  second  by  creating  monopoly,  and  against  the 
third  by  restricting  the  number  of  the  persons  who  might 
become  members. 

It  consequently  followed  that  the  number  of  apprentices 
that  might  be  taken  was  limited,  and  that  the  apprentice- 
ship agreements  were  subject  to  the  supervision  and  con- 
trol of  the  gild.  In  limiting  the  number  of  apprentices 
the  gilds  had,  indeed,  another  object  in  view.  They 
earnestly  desired,  in  order  to  avoid  the  degradation  of 
their  craft,  with  the  financial  loss  which  they  were  wise 
enough  to  see  would  surely  follow  from  the  lessening  of 
its  professional  status,  to  prevent  bad  workmanship,  and 
they  believed  that  the  only  way  to  secure  good  workman- 
ship was  for  the  beginners  to  receive  proper  and  adequate 
tuition  from  one  competent  in  the  *  mystery  '  of  his  craft. 
It  was  consequently  a  common  practice  for  the  master  to 
be  limited  in  the  number  of  pupils  he  might  receive  for 
training,  so  that  he  would  not,  through  the  multitude  of 
his  apprentices,  be  unable  to  supervise  the  work  of  each. 
Out  of  the  loi  crafts  mentioned  in  the  Livre  de  mestiers 
only  about  40  permitted  the  master  to  take  as  many 
apprentices  as  he  pleased. 

It  was  also  felt  that  a  certain  number  of  years  should 
be  devoted  to  the  learning  of  the  craft,  and  this  view  was 
taken  for  two  reasons,  the  first  of  which  was  that  adequate 
knowledge  required  some  time  to  acquire,  and  the  second 
that  it  was  not  desirable  for  excessive  youth  to  be  in 
competition  with  older  and  more  responsible  wage- 
earners. 

The  period  of  apprenticeship  did  not,  however,  follow 

83 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

according  to  the  difficulty  of  the  art.  Further,  an 
apprentice  could,  so  to  speak,  buy  a  short  apprenticeship, 
for  though  as  a  rule  apprenticeship  lasted  for  eight,  ten, 
or  even  twelve  years,  it  was  a  common  practice  to  take  a 
pupil  who  paid  a  heavy  premium  for  a  much  shorter 
period,  sometimes  for  not  more  than  three  years. 

In  almost  every  case  the  son  of  a  freeman  of  the  gild 
was  given  the  preference  over  one  whose  father  was  not 
of  the  craft  or  not  of  the  gild.  The  freeman's  child  could 
always  become  an  apprentice,  frequently  without  premium ; 
the  stranger's  child  was  charged  a  premium,  usually 
required  to  serve  for  a  longer  period,  and  only  admitted 
if  the  craft  was  not  overcrowded. 

Deeds  of  Apprenticeship 

The  apprenticeship  agreement,  normally  in  the  form  of 
a  deed,  was  in  the  common  case  considered  and  approved 
by  the  gild  council  before  the  pupil  could  be  taken.  It 
was  often  deposited  in  the  common  chest  of  the  gild  and 
there  remained  as  conclusive  witness  of  the  terms  of  the 
bargain.  That  bargain  bound  both  sides  irrevocably. 
The  indentures  of  apprenticeship  printed  in  English  Economic 
History^  are  typical  of  the  kind  of  obligation  imposed  on 
either  party.  The  apprentice  enters  the  household  of  his 
master  and  submits  himself  to  the  orders  of  his  master  and 
his  master's  wife,  he  contracts  to  be  loyal  to  that  household, 
to  be  careful  of  his  master's  goods,  and  to  be  bound  for  a 
given  number  of  years.  His  master,  on  the  other  hand, 
contracts  to  find  him  in  food,  clothing,  shoes,  and  shelter, 
to  teach  him  his  craft  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  to  chastise 
him  '  duly  '  and  to  pay  him  at  the  end  of  the  term  a  given 
sum. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  deed  had  frequently  to  be  perused 
by  the  gild.  Thus  the  Ordinances  of  the  Gild  of  the  Tailors, 
Exeter,  provides  that  "  every  person  of  the  said  craft  that 
takes  an  apprentice  shall  bring  him  before  the  Master  and 

^  Indentures  of  apprenticeship  will  be  found  in  the  work  quoted  at 
pp.  113,  147,  295. 

84 


f  THE    MASTER     WORKER 

Wardens,  and  there  have  his  indenture  enrolled,  and  the 
Master  to  pay  i2d.  for  the  enrolment;  and  this  to  be  done 
within  a  twelvemonth  and  a  day,  or  else  to  lose  his  freedom 
of  the  craft  for  evermore."  Sometimes  the  apprentice  was 
also  required  to  make  some  payment  to  the  gild,  and  perhaps 
give  some  entertainment  to  the  gild  members  to  celebrate 
his  entry  into  the  craft. 

State  Interference 

Instances  of  State  interference  with  the  rights  of  persons 
to  become  apprentices  or  to  take  apprentices  are  compara- 
tively rare,  but  in  England,  as  a  consequence  of  the  dearth 
of  labourers  in  husbandry  caused  by  the  Black  Death  and 
the  subsequent  labour  legislation,  it  was  found  necessary  in 
1388  to  provide  (12  Ric.  II,  c.  5)  that  "  he  or  she,  which 
use  to  labour  at  the  Plough  and  Cart,  or  other  Labour  or 
Service  of  Husbandry  till  they  be  of  the  age  of  twelve 
years,^  that  from  henceforth  they  shall  abide  at  the  same 
Labour,  without  being  put  to  any  Mystery  or  Handicraft." 
It  was  further  provided  by  the  same  Act  that  apprenticeship 
deeds  already  entered  into  in  such  case  were  to  be  deemed 
void  and  of  no  effect.  Fourteen  years  later,  by  the 
4  Henry  IV,  the  apprenticing  of  young  labourers  to  crafts 
was  struck  at  by  the  provision  that : 

No  Man  nor  Woman,  of  what  Estate  or  Condition  they  be, 
shall  put  their  Son  or  Daughter  of  whatsoever  age  he  or  she  be, 
to  serve  as  apprentice,  to  no  craft,  nor  other  Labour  within  any 
City  or  Borough  in  the  Realm,  except  he  have  Land  or  Rent  to 
the  value  of  Twenty  Shillings  by  the  Year  at  least. 

Any  parent  apprenticing  his  or  her  child  contrary  to 
this  statute  was  liable  to  be  imprisoned  for  one  year  and  to 
be  fined  at  mercy ;  the  person  taking  the  apprentice  became 
liable  to  a  fine  of  looj. 

The  apprentice,  having  served  his  term  of  apprenticeship, 

^  This  ambiguous  sentence  means  that  the  following  restrictions  apply 
to  all  who  had  engaged  in  the  before-mentioned  labours  and  had  reached 
the  age  of  twelve. 

85 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

became  in  due  course  a  journeyman.  Until  such  time, 
though  a  member  of  the  gild,  he  had  no  voice  in  the  direction 
of  such  association.  He  could  not,  of  course,  leave  the 
service  of  his  master,  and  if  he  ran  away  the  master  could 
obtain  a  writ  for  the  delivery  to  him  of  his  apprentice. 

The  Journeyman 

On  becoming  a  journeyman  the  apprentice  became  free 
to  work  for  whom  he  pleased,  except  that  by  statute  he 
might  not  be  able  to  follow  any  craft  other  than  his  own. 
If  he  left  his  own  town  he  would  also  suffer  many  dis- 
abilities, unless  he  were  received  into  the  craft  gild  of 
the  place  to  which  he  went.  As  a  rule,  the  gilds  accepted 
such  *  foreign  *  members  if  it  appeared  that  the  candidate 
was  well  spoken  of  by  his  own  gild  and  had  left  his  former 
master  in  a  friendly  way. 

The  term  of  the  hiring  varied.  The  Statute  of  Labourers 
expressly  provided  that  in  the  case  of  labourers  in  hus- 
bandry (persons  who  would  not  be  in  any  craft)  the  hiring 
was  to  be  for  a  year  and  that  men  were  not  to  be  employed 
on  day-to-day  contracts.  Thus  arose  a  custom  which 
continued  until  comparatively  recent  years  not  only  in  the 
case  of  domestic  servants  and  farm  labourers,  but  also  in 
such  employments  as  that  of  coal-miner  and  Salter,  The 
journeyman  craftsman,  on  the  other  hand,  was  engaged  for 
a  day,  as  the  name  signiiies,^  though  in  some  cases  it  would 
appear  that  a  custom  for  hiring  and  payment  to  be  weekly 
arose,  for  in  the  case  of  carpenters  and  masons  it  was  enacted 
by  34  Edw.  Ill,  c.  9,  that  in  future  such  artisans  should 
take  wages  by  the  day  and  not  by  the  week.  Before  a 
master  could  hire  a  journeyman  it  was  often  necessary,  and 
always  desirable,  for  him  to  inquire  whether  the  man  had 
served  an  apprenticeship  to  the  craft.  Such  apprenticeship 
might  be  served  either  in  that  town  or  in  another,  but  in  the 
latter  case  the  workman  might  be  required  to  show  that  the 
terms  of  his  apprenticeship  were  such  that  it  would  be 
deemed  a  worthy  apprenticeship  in  the  town  in  which  he 
1  Journeyman  =  a  day's-work  man. 

86 


THE    MASTER    WORKER 

sought  work.  Thus,  if  by  the  gild  ordinances  of  town  A 
a  girdler  had  to  serve  five  years  and  in  town  B  eight  years, 
an  apprentice  from  town  A  whose  time  had  expired  would 
not  be  employed  in  town  B.  This  is  another  example  of  the 
gild's  protective  rules.  If,  however,  the  apprentice  re- 
mained as  a  journeyman  in  town  A  for  another  three  years 
it  is  probable  that  he  would  be  accepted  as  a  competent 
craftsman  in  town  B. 

The  Hiring 

In  France,  as  in  England,  it  was  customary  for  the 
journeymen  to  assemble  at  some  given  place  at  a  given  hour 
day  by  day  there  to  be  hired  by  a  master  for  that  day.  All 
the  members  of  the  craft  would  be  known  each  to  the  other, 
and  a  principal  reason  for  this  public  hiring  was  to  prevent 
the  engaging  of  unskilled  men  at '  cut  '  prices,  thus  enabling 
a  master  to  undersell  the  more  loyal  members  of  the  gild — 
for,  of  course,  then  as  now,  the  main  item  in  the  cost  of  an 
article  would  be  the  wages  paid  for  its  production.  It 
would  also  follow  from  public  hiring  that  any  attempt  either 
to  hire  too  many  or  to  hire  at  an  improper  wage  would  be 
defeated  ;  it  would  also  render  covins  or  rings  impossible. 

Normally,  however,  a  master  could  employ  as  many 
journeymen  as  he  chose,  for  the  number  of  craftsmen  was 
not  thereby  increased,  the  distribution  of  existing  craftsmen 
alone  being  affected.  In  some  cases,  however — e.g.,  the 
case  of  tailors  in  Exeter — the  right  to  employ  was  limited 
unless  the  master  obtained  from  his  gild  a  licence  to  employ 
more  than  the  maximum  number  (which  in  the  case  given 
was  three). 

Sometimes  the  engagement  was  not  limited  to  a  day, 
though  this  was  the  invariable  rule  for  journeymen  properly 
so  called.  It  might  well  be,  however,  that  the  work 
required  continuity  of  individual  craftsmanship  as  in  the 
case,  e.g.^  of  designing,  or  weaving,  or  cabinet-making,  and 
a  day-to-day  contract  with  public  hiring  would  obviously 
have  exposed  the  master  to  the  danger  of  having  to  engage 
on  such  a  task  a  man  different  from  him  who  had  commenced 

87 


1 

HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

it.  It  is  consequently  found  that  craftsmen  were  hired 
sometimes  by  the  week  and  occasionally  by  the  year. 
Frequently  these  serving-men  lived,  as  did  the  apprentices, 
with  their  master,  their  wages  being  reduced  by  the  value 
of  their  board  and  lodgings.  In  the  majority  of  cases, 
however,  they  had  their  own  establishments. 

Hours  and  Wages 

The  '  day  '  was  a  true  day — that  is  to  say,  it  lasted  from 
the  rising  to  the  setting  of  the  sun,  and  consequently  varied 
with  the  seasons.  In  those  cases  where  a  definite  hiring 
place  and  time  was  fixed  such  time  replaced  day-break  as 
the  hour  at  which  the  service  commenced,  but  the  hiring 
times  were  so  fixed  that  the  daily  work  was  not  thereby 
substantially  curtailed. 

The  wage  paid  naturally  varied  considerably  with  the 
craft  and  with  the  period.  Nothing  can  be  more  difficult 
to  compare  than  wages,  for  although  the  wages  fixed  by 
the  25  Edw.  Ill  appear  to  us  so  low  as  to  be  almost 
incapable  of  being  compared  with  modern  standards,  they 
were  in  fact  not  substantially  different  in  value.  In  those 
days  a  master  carpenter  only  received  threepence  a  day 
and  an  ordinary  carpenter  twopence,  but  we  must  remember 
that  in  1363  the  price  of  a  goose  was  fixed  at  fourpence, 
while  a  pullet  cost  but  a  penny.  By  that  year  (1363)  the 
wages  of  carpenters  had  been  somewhat  increased,  a  master 
carpenter  getting  fourpence  a  day  and  ordinary  carpenters 
threepence  or  twopence,  "  according  as  they  be  worth." 

Combinations 

Where  the  serving-man  resided  with  his  master  the 
annual  payment  made  to  him  was  frequently  very  small. 
M.  Levasseur  quotes  one  case  where  it  was  no  more  than 
sixty  sous,^  a  sum  having  the  intrinsic  value  to-day  of 
thirty-four  francs.  In  the  case  of  the  dispute  which  arose 
in  1396  between  the  master  saddlers  of  London  and  the 

1  The  man  in  question  was  barman  to  a  wine-merchant. 

88 


THE     MASTER    WORKER 

journeymen  and  serving-men  we  find  the  masters  alleging 
that  beforetimes  they  could  have  hired  a  serving-man  for 
forty  shillings,  or  five  marks,  yearly  and  his  board,  but  that 
such  a  man  could  not  then  be  obtained  for  less  than  ten  or 
twelve  marks,  or  even  ten  pounds  yearly.  Ten  fourteenth- 
century  pounds  would  equal  a  very  considerable  sum  to- 
day, and  the  masters  do  not  appear  to  have  been  entirely 
unjustified  in  complaining  that  such  charges  were  *'  to  the 
great  deterioration  of  the  trade." 

The  case  last  cited  is  one  of  the  few  in  which  we  have 
evidence  of  definite  covins  on  the  part  of  employees  to  put 
up  wages.  In  the  main  it  would  seem  that  the  masters 
did  not  find  legislation  necessary  to  protect  them  against 
combinations.  Such  legislation  there  was,  even  in 
this  period,  but  it  would  appear  that  it  was  to  the  gild 
ordinances  and  to  the  spirit  of  friendliness  or  equality 
which  gild  fellowship  did  so  much  to  promote  that  the 
masters  looked  rather  than  to  Parliament.  When  a 
grievance  was  felt  it  was  to  the  mayor  rather  than  to  the 
king  or  his  council  that  those  aggrieved  appealed. 

There  was  a  further  reason  for  this  attitude.  The 
journeymen  and  serving-men,  being  gild  brothers,  had  a 
voice  in  the  making  of  the  gild  ordinances  in  many  cases, 
and  in  the  election  of  the  gild  officers  in  all  cases.  Also 
they  knew  that  when,  by  dint  of  hard  work  and  frugal  living, 
they  had  saved  up  enough  money,  it  may  be  to  set  up 
shop,  it  may  be  to  pay  also  the  charge  to  king  or  gild  which 
was  sometimes  required,  they  in  turn  could  become  em- 
ployers, enter  the  gild  council,  if  chosen  by  their  brethren, 
and  look  forward  to  the  time  when,  having  amassed 
wealth,  they  could  occupy  the  important  position  of  gild 
warden,  or  even,  indeed,  that  of  mayor  or  alderman  in 
their  borough.  Such  advancements  in  position  from  man 
to  master  were  frequent  and  normal.  Every  master  had 
been  a  man  and  an  apprentice.  Sympathy  and  the  know- 
ledge that  no  high  dividing  wall  existed  appear  to  have 
had  their  efi^ect  in  preventing  serious  and  sustained  disputes. 
The  civil   commotions,  such  as  the  Peasants'  Rebellion, 

89 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

which  occurred  were  not  due  to  any  feeling  of  antagonism 
between  employer  and  employed,  but  were  the  result  of 
causes  entirely  extrinsic. 

State  Regulation  of  Wages 

A  perusal  of  the  laws  passed  during  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries — that  is,  up  to  the  end  of  Henry  VII's 
reign — shows  that  the  legislature  mainly  concerned  itself 
with  the  regulation  of  the  wages  of  two  wide  classes  of 
workpeople:  (i)  labourers  in  husbandry,  and  (2)  workmen 
employed  in  building  operations.  The  control  of  other, 
craftsmen  was  left  very  largely  to  the  gilds  of  which  they 
would  be  members.  From  time  to  time,  as  we  shall  see, 
the  '  Handicraft  People  '  are  referred  to  in  the  statutes, 
but  it  is  rare  to  find  Parliament  attempting  to  fix  their 
wages ;  that  was  rather  left  to  the  justices  or  to  the  mayor 
or  bailifFs  of  the  cities  and  boroughs,  or  to  the  gilds.  The 
Statute  of  Labourers  (23  Edw.  Ill,  c.  5),  however,  provided 
that: 

Saddlers,  skinners,  white-tawers,  cordwainers,  tailors,  smiths, 
carpenters,  masons,  tilers,  shipwrights,  carters,  and  all  other 
artificers  and  workmen}  shall  not  take  for  their  labour  and 
workmanship  above  the  sum  that  was  wont  to  be  paid  to  such 
persons  in  the  .  .  .  twentieth  year  [of  the  reign  of  Edward  III] 
and  other  common  years  next  before  ...  in  the  place  where 
they  shall  happen  to  work  ;  and  if  any  man  take  more  he  shall 
be  committed  to  the  next  gaol. 

Two  years  later,  by  the  Statute  of  Artificers  and  Labourers 
(25  Edw.  Ill,  St.  2,  1 351),  definite  maximum  wages  were 
established  for  "  labourers  in  husbandry  "  and  **  workmen 
of  houses."  As  to  other  workmen,  they  were  required 
to  be  "  sworn  before  the  justices  to  do  and  use  their 
crafts  and  offices  in  the  manner  they  were  wont  to  do." 
Failure  to  abide  by  the  ordinance  was  punishable  by  fine 
and  imprisonment  at  the  discretion  of  the  justices.  Ten 
years  later,  however,  by  34  Edw.  Ill,  c.  9,  the  punishment 
was  reduced  to  imprisonment  without  the  fine. 

^  Our  italics. 
90 


THE     MASTER    WORKER 

The  Justices 

This  jurisdiction  of  the  justices  was  extended  by  43 
Edw.  Ill,  c.  7,  and  in  1389  by  13  Ric.  II,  c.  8,  it  was 
enacted  that : 

Forasmuch  as  a  man  cannot  put  the  price  of  corn  and  other 
victuals  in  certain,  it  is  accorded  and  assented  that  the  Justices 
of  Peace  in  every  county,  in  two  of  their  Sessions  to  be  holden 
betwixt  the  Feast  of  Easter  and  St  Michael,  shall  make  pro- 
clamation by  their  discretion  according  to  the  dearth  of  victuals, 
how  much  every  mason,  carpenter,  tiler,  and  other  craftsmen, 
workmen,  and  other  labourers  by  the  day,  as  well  in  harvest  as 
in  other  times  of  the  year,  after  their  degree,  shall  take  by  the  day 
with  meat  and  drink,  or  without  meat  and  drink,  between  the 
two  Sessions  beforesaid,  notwithstanding  the  statutes  thereof 
heretofore  made,  and  that  every  man  obey  such  proclamations 
from  time  to  time  as  a  thing  done  by  statute.  And  in  the  right 
of  victuallers  it  is  accorded,  that  they  shall  have  reasonable  gains, 
according  to  the  discretion  and  limitation  of  the  said  Justices 
and  no  more. 

This  wide  power  of  fixing  maximum  wages  and  maximum 
prices  was  exercised  by  the  justices,  and  later,  in  virtue  of 
6  Hen.  VI,  c.  3  (continued  by  8  Hen.  VI,  c.  8),  by  mayors 
and  bailiffs,  for  centuries.  The  practice  was  continued 
and  extended  by  the  Ehzabethan  labour  legislation  and 
survived  to  some  extent  even  into  the  nineteenth  century, 
though  by  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  it  had 
become  practically  obsolete. 

It  will,  of  course,  be  observed  that  the  justices  and  others 
fixed  maximum,  and  not  minimum,  wages.  Thorold 
Rogers  appears,  indeed,  to  have  regarded  the  fixing  of 
wages  as  a  mere  device  on  the  part  of  the  legislature  and 
the  wealthier  classes  to  grind  down  labour,  and  even  Sir 
Frederick  Eden  considered  the  attitude  of  Parliament  in 
this  matter  disastrous  to  industry.  At  the  same  time,  the 
regulation  of  wages  did  create  a  certain  standard  of  life 
which  could  not  be  degraded  by  the  action  of  individual 
employers.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  after  the 
breakdown  of  the  system  which  occurred  in  the  eighteenth 

91 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

century  and  at  the  commencement  of  the  industrial  system 
the  workers,  rightly  or  wrongly,  came  to  look  upon  the 
ancient  system  whereby  wages  were  fixed  by  the  justices 
as  a  measure  of  protection  against  their  employers,  and 
one  of  the  things  pressed  for  by  the  early  trade  combinations 
was  a  return  to  these  old  practices.  In  the  early  seven- 
teenth century  there  was,  indeed,  a  tendency  on  the  part  of 
the  justices  to  make  the  maxima  equivalent  to  the  minima. 

Maximum  Wages 

Notwithstanding  the  discretionary  power  given  to  the 
justices,  it  appears  to  have  been  considered  necessary  from 
time  to  time  to  standardize  as  far  as  possible  the  wages  of 
the  two  special  classes  we  have  already  referred  to.  This, 
no  doubt,  was  in  order  to  prevent  that  migration  of  labour, 
struck  at  by  2  Hen.  V,  St.  i,  c.  4,  which  would  naturally 
take  place  when  it  was  learnt  by  the  workpeople  of  county 
A  that  the  justices  of  county  B  or  C  were  more  liberal  than 
their  own  justices. 

These  maximum  wages  naturally  varied  according  to 
the  season  of  the  year,  the  employment,  and  the  period. 
The  comparative  tables  on  pp.  93  and  94  enable  one, 
however,  to  judge  the  comparative  values  set  upon  em- 
ployment and  the  comparative  worth  of  wages  at  the 
periods  mentioned. 

In  all  cases  the  wages  in  Table  I  were,  of  course,  with 
meat  and  drink.  They  were  maximum  wages,  and  where, 
by  the  custom  of  the  locality,  it  was  the  practice  to  pay 
less,  less  was  due. 

In  1495  t)y  II  Hen.  VII,  c.  22,  the  wages  of  the  work- 
men employed  in  shipbuilding  were  fixed  according  to 
the  following  scale : 


Master  ship  carpenter 

.    5(^.  with  meat  and  drink  or  jd.  with 

Ship  carpenter  (or  hewer) 

.    /^.             „             „            6d.       , 

Clincher    . 

.    Zd.             „              „            Sd-       , 

Holder      . 

.     2d.                 „                 „               ^d.         , 

Master  caulker  . 

.    \d.              „              „             (>d.       , 

'  Mean  '  caulker 

.    3d-            »,            »           Sd-       , 

92 


THE     MASTER    WORKER 

The  above  were  summer  prices  and  were  reduced  by 
the  usual  amount  in  the  case  of  winter  work.  In  the  case 
of  a  caulker  labouring  by  the  tide  instead  of  by  the  day,  it 
was  provided  that  he  should  labour  "  for  as  long  time 


Table  I. — Labourers  in  Husbandry 


Yearly  Wage 

Type  of 
Workman 

1388 

1444 

1495 

Bailiff     for     hus- 

13/. 4(/.-f  clothes 

2  3  x.-|- clothing 

26s.  8^.-1- clothing 

bandry- 

(5^0    . 

(5^0 

Master  hind 

I  ox. 

>> 

20J.-]-clothing 

20J.-|-clothing 

Carter 

10/. 

»» 

>» 

Shepherd     . 

10/, 

>> 

„ 

Oxherd 

6s.  %d. 

»> 

Cowherd 

6s.  U. 

>> 

Swineherd, 

6s. 

>> 

Common  servant . 

I  5x.-)-clothing 

i6s.  8/4- clothing 

of  husbandry 

(3^-  4^0 

(4^0 

Woman  labourer  . 

6s. 

?» 

Dairy  woman 

6s. 

»> 

Woman  servant    . 

lox.-fclothing 

iox.-|-clothing 
(4^0 

Ploughman . 

JS. 

j> 

Infant  under  14 

6j.-f  clothing 
(3^0 

6s.  8^.-)-clothing 
{y.  or  4J.) 

as  he  may  labour  above  the  water  and  beneath  the  water  " 
and  that  for  such  period  his  maximum  wage  should  be 
fourpence  with  meat  and  drink. 

The  above  wages  were  fixed  not  to  protect  the  workers, 
but  to  protect  the  consumers.  It  should  be  observed, 
however,  that  the  legislature  was  equally  careful  to  fix  the 
price  of  commodities,  so  that  the  small  wages  paid  had  a 
high  purchasing  power,  as  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact 
that  a  day's  meat  and  drink  was  calculated  as  worth  three- 

93 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

halfpence  or  twopence,  while  a  year's  supply  of  clothing  was 
deemed  to  be  worth  anything  from  three  to  five  shillings. 
In  this  connexion  it  is  pertinent  to  remark  that  under  the 
sumptuary  legislation  of  Edward  Ill's  reign  the  amount 


Table 

II.- 

-Workmen  for  Houses 

Type  of 

Daily  Wages 

Workman 

1351 

1361 

1444 

1495 

Summer 

Winter 

Summerl  Winter 

Wagei 

Wage^ 

Wage  1 

Wage » 

d. 

d. 

d. 

d. 

d. 

</. 

Master  carpenter   . 

3 

4 

4  or  5| 

3  or  \\ 

d  or  \ 

5  ^''3 

Ordinary  carpenter 

2 

3  or  2 

Master  jfreemason  . 

4 

4 

» 

» 

Ordinary  mason 

3 

3  or  2 

Mason's  servants    . 

I* 

Tilers  . 

3 

Tiler's  knaves 

^\ 

Labourers 

2  or  3I 

i|  or  3 

Rough  mason 

6  or  4     5  or  3 

Bricklayer 

j>             » 

Master  tiler 

»             >» 

Plumber 

»       1      >» 

Glazier 

1 

Carver 

>> 

» 

Joiner 

» 

»» 

which  the  various  classes  might  spend  on  their  clothes 
was  strictly  limited.  Thus  by  37  Edw.  Ill,  c.  9,  it  was 
provided  that  "  people  of  handicraft  and  yeomen  "  were  not 
to  wear  cloth  of  a  higher  price  than  forty  shillings  and  their 
wives  and  daughters  were  only  permitted  to  wear,  so  far  as 
furs  were  concerned,  some  of  the  cheapest  kinds,  viz.,  lamb, 
coney,  cat,  or  fox.  If,  however,  the  artificers  or  people 
of  handicraft  possessed  goods  and  chattels  to  the  value  of 

^  The  lower  figure  is  the  wage  payable  if  meat  and  drink  are  provided  ; 
the  higher  figure  if  meat  and  drink  are  not  provided. 

94 


THE    MASTER    WORKER 

;^500  they  could  dress  more  richly,  and  if  they  were  worth 
;^iooo  their  apparel  might  vie  with  that  of  an  esquire  or 
gentleman ;  they  might  be  arrayed  in  silk  and  cloth  of 
silver,  and  their  wives  wear  miniver  fur,  a  fur  esteemed 
only  less  than  ermine  or  letuse. 

Regulation  of  Hours  of  Labour 

The  hours  of  labour  were  rarely  the  subject  of  legislation. 
By  2  Hen.  IV,  c.  14  (1402),  it  was  provided  that: 

No  Labourers,  Carpenters,  Masons,  Tilers,  Plaisterers,  Daubers, 
Coverers  of  Houses,  nor  none  other  Labourers,  shall  take  any  Hire 
for  the  Holy  days  [holidays],  nor  for  the  Evens  of  Feasts,  where 
they  do  not  labour  but  till  the  hour  of  Noon,  but  only  for  the  half- 
day. 

And,  as  we  have  seen,  the  period  of  work  of  a  caulker 
labouring  by  the  tide  was  laid  down  by  an  Act  of  Henry 
VII's  reign.  The  most  elaborate  rules  relative  to  hours 
are  to  be  found,  however,  in  another  section  of  the 
1 1  Hen.  VII,  c.  22,  which  enacts  as  follows : 

Whereas  divers  artificers  and  labourers  retained  to  work  and 
serve  waste  much  part  of  the  day  and  deserve  not  their  wages, 
sometime  in  late  coming  unto  their  work,  early  departing  there- 
from, long  sitting  at  their  breakfast,  at  their  dinner  and  nonemete, 
and  long  time  of  sleeping  at  afternoon  ...  it  is  therefore 
established,  enacted,  and  ordained  .  .  .  that  every  artificer  and 
labourer  be  at  his  work  between  the  middle  of  the  month  of 
March  and  the  middle  of  the  month  of  September  by  five  of  the 
clock  in  the  morning,  and  that  he  have  but  half  an  hour  for 
his  breakfast,  and  an  hour  and  a  half  for  his  dinner  at  such  time 
as  he  hath  season  for  sleep  to  him  appointed  by  this  statute,  and 
at  such  time  as  is  herein  appointed  that  he  shall  not  sleep  then 
he  to  have  but  an  hour  for  his  dinner  and  half  an  hour  for  his 
nonemete  ;  and  that  he  depart  not  from  his  work  between  the 
middle  of  the  said  months  of  March  and  September  till  between 
seven  and  eight  of  the  clock  in  the  evening. 

The  statute  proceeds  to  say  that  in  winter-time  the  day's 
work  shall  be  from  the  "  springing  of  the  day  "  till  nightfall. 

95 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

These  provisions,  so  far  as  they  enacted  that  a  day's  work 
should  be  substantially  from  dawn  to  dusk,  were  in  accord- 
ance, as  we  have  seen,  with  long-established  practice. 
The  statute,  however,  appears  to  have  been  unpopular  and 
was  repealed  in  1496  by  12  Hen.  VII,  c.  3. 

Migration 

We  have  already  indicated  that  one  of  the  reasons  for 
the  standardization  of  wages  was  probably  to  be  found  in 
the  fact  that  wide  divergencies  of  wages  in  various  localities, 
due  to  the  greater  harshness  of  some  justices  in  some 
districts,  would  be  liable  to  cause  wholesale  migrations  of 
labour,  and  this  it  was  manifestly  the  policy  of  the  State  to 
prevent  if  possible.  Other  means  to  this  end,  besides  the 
standardization  of  wages,  were  from  time  to  time  adopted. 
Thus,  by  the  Statute  of  Labourers,  a  workman,  "  not  being 
in  merchandize  nor  exercising  any  craft,"  might  be 
required  to  serve  such  master  as  needed  him,  and  masters 
were  not  permitted  to  *  need  *  an  excessive  number.  By 
34  Edw.  Ill,  c.  9,  fugitive  labourers  or  artificers  were 
liable  to  be  outlawed,  and,  when  caught,  burned  in  the  fore- 
head with  the  letter  '  F  '  (Fauxine  ==  falsity),  while  by 
2  Hen.  V,  St.  I,  c.  4,  the  moving  of  labourers  from  county  to 
county  was  made  a  matter  of  extreme  difficulty.  Thirteen 
years  later  (1427)  the  justices,  mayors,  and  bailiffs  were 
given  power  to  grant  writs  of  capias  for  the  capture  of 
fugitive  servants,  labourers,  and  workmen.  By  23  Hen.  VI, 
servants  in  husbandry  purposing  to  leave  their  masters  were 
required  to  engage  with  a  new  one  and  to  give  proper 
warning  to  their  employer.  The  purpose  of  this  enact- 
ment appears  to  have  been  to  require  the  servant  to  give 
adequate  notice,  but  at  the  same  time  to  get  a  new  master 
before  so  giving  notice,  in  order  not  to  run  the  risk  of  being 
out  of  employment. 

The  Master 

These  restrictions  on  movement  affected,  however,  only 
the  labourers  in  husbandry  and  workers  in  houses.     The 

96 


THE    MASTER    WORKER 

craftsman  could  move  about  freely,  subject  to  such  restric- 
tions as  the  gilds  might  impose. 

The  change  from  workman  to  master,  though  it  freed 
the  individual  from  many  of  the  above  checks  upon  his 
liberty  and  left  him  free  to  earn  such  sums  as  might  befall, 
marked  no  great  change  in  his  status.  As  Levasseur 
expressed  it,  **  Le  mot  ouvrier  s'appliquait  d'ordinaire  k 
quiconque  ouvrait,  faisait  ouvrage,  maitre  ou  valet."  ^ 
The  master  still  continued  at  bench  or  loom,  but  he  was 
now  the  employer  and  not  the  employed. 

It  depended  to  some  extent  on  the  period,  on  the  country, 
on  the  district,  and  on  local  ordinances  or  rules,  as  to  the 
steps  which  had  to  be  taken  before  a  workman,  a  varlet, 
could  become  a  master.  Usually  the  privilege  had  to  be 
purchased  either  from  the  king  or  royal  officer,  or  from  the 
lord  of  the  manor,  or  from  a  gild,  but  in  the  later  period  it 
became  common  for  the  man  merely  to  pay  a  small  sum  to 
his  gild  and  then  to  open  shop,  thus  declaring  to  the  world 
that  he  was  trading  on  his  own  account. 

As  a  rule,  the  master  workman  had  but  few  employees. 
As  we  have  seen,  the  number  of  his  apprentices  was  usually 
limited,  and  though  in  the  normal  case  he  could  employ  as 
many  workmen  as  he  chose,  in  fact  the  nature  of  industry 
itself  in  that  age  imposed  a  strict  limit  to  the  number  of 
persons  who  could  be  profitably  employed.  Many  masters, 
indeed,  worked  alone  or  with  but  one  apprentice,  for  the 
word  *  master '  by  no  means  of  necessity  connoted  the 
existence  of  an  employee.  Manufacture  was  still  in  a 
domestic  state.  We  have  the  tiny  shop  where  the  finished 
goods  were  exposed  for  sale,  the  back  room  where  the  work 
was  done.  The  atelier  was  rarely  larger  than  a  modern 
kitchen.  The  mechanism  of  manufacture  was  of  the 
simplest  sort.  The  grand  trade,  the  export  market,  inter- 
national business,  the  work  in  gross — this  was  all  in  the 
hands  of  the  merchants,  members  of  merchant  gilds,  who, 
with  the  money-changers  and  bankers,  so  largely  controlled 
the  administration  not  only  of  medieval  trade,  but  also  of  the 
1  Histoire  des  classes  ouvriires  avant  1 789. 

G  97 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

medieval  city  and  borough.  The  merchant  gilds  and  the 
craft  gilds  were  sharply  divided  the  one  from  the  other  in 
the  generality  of  cases.  The  division  was  almost  the  same 
as  that  which  exists  to-day  between  the  wholesale  and  retail 
trader.  In  those  times  there  were  no  wholesale  manu- 
facturers. 

Trade  Localities 

But  though  there  was  nothing  that  could  be  called 
wholesale  manufacture,  it  is  clear  that  in  England,  in  France, 
and  in  the  Low  Countries  industries  tended  to  segregate. 
That  is  to  say,  persons  following  the  same  kind  of  work, 
or  the  same  kind  of  trade,  would  follow  their  occupation  in 
the  same  locality.  Sometimes,  it  might  be,  a  particular 
street  or  a  particular  part  of  the  town  was  devoted  to  a 
special  branch  of  industry;  sometimes  a  whole  community 
or  city  or  borough  would,  for  the  most  part,  be  con- 
cerned with  a  particular  manufacture.  Thus  Ypres  early 
specialized  in  weaving,  Dinant  in  brass-work.  In  London 
such  places  as  Poultry,  Cornhill,  and  Lombard  Street  are 
relics  of  the  days  when  the  poulterers,  the  corn-merchants, 
and  the  Lombard  money-changers  carried  on  their  trade  in 
these  localities.^  Apart  altogether  from  the  natural  con- 
gregation of  persons  engaged  in  a  particular  trade,  due  to 
the  establishment  at  a  given  point  of  a  market  for  such  trade, 
it  is  well  known  that  trades  commonly  grouped  themselves. 
In  1292,  in  the  Rue  Saint-Denis,  Paris,  there  were  no  less 
than  twenty-six  saddlers,  and  in  the  Rue  des  Petits-Champs 
there  were  seventeen  curriers. 

^  The  Liber  Albus  mentions  among  other  markets  the  following : 
"  Poultry  :  Strange  poulterers  to  sell  at  Leadenhall  save  those  who  enter 
by  Newgate  or  Aldersgate,  these  to  sell  upon  the  pavement  before  the  Friars 
Minors  at  the  fountain  there.  Com  :  Those  bringing  corn  from  Cambridge, 
Huntingdon,  Bedford,  and  those  who  come  by  way  of  Ware  to  sell  at  the 
pavement  market  at  Gracechurch.  Those  coming  from  the  West,  as  from 
Barnet,  to  sell  at  the  pavement  market  before  the  Friars  Minors  in  Newgate. 
Small  ware  :  These  to  be  regrated  only  in  the  streets  of  Chepe  [Cheapside] 
and  Cornhill  between  the  kennels,  and  no  markets  to  be  held  on  fair  days 
for  pots,  pans,  and  other  utensils  except  at  Cornhill." 

98 


THE     MASTER    WORKER 

Such  congregation  of  trades  by  districts  would  probably 
arise  out  of  convenience,  for  the  masters  would  all  have  to 
repair  to  the  same  place  to  hire  their  workmen  and  to 
purchase  their  material.^  In  days  of  few  and  bad  com- 
munications it  would  manifestly  be  for  the  benefit  of  all 
concerned — the  merchant,  the  master  workman,  and  the 
journeyman — for  the  employers  in  a  given  trade  to  be  near 
together. 

The  elevation  to  mastership  gave  the  individual  a 
larger  voice  in  the  direction  of  gild  policy,  but  it  subjected 
him  also  to  the  many  obligations  imposed  by  both  royal 
and  gild  ordinances.  He  had  to  keep  up  the  standard 
of  workmanship,  see  that  his  measures  and  weights  were 
true,  that  his  mark  was  on  his  goods,  and  that  such  goods 
were  of  proper  quality  and  size.  The  Liber  Albus  provides 
the  following  punishments  for  the  dishonest  craftsmen : 
(i)  the  pillory  (or  collistrigium)\  (2)  forfeiture  of  goods 
condemned;  (3)  fine  or  imprisonment;  (4)  excommuning. 
We  have  cases  where  a  furrier  who  mixed  new  with  old 
furs  and  sold  the  resulting  garment  as  new  was  sentenced 
to  the  pillory ;  where  a  girdler  who  put  '  false  '  girdles  on 
the  market  had  them  condemned  and  burnt;  where  a 
baker  for  baking  bread  not  according  to  the  assize  was 
"  drawn  upon  a  hurdle  from  the  gildhall  to  his  own  house, 
through  the  great  streets  where  there  may  be  most  people 
assembled,  and  through  the  midst  of  the  great  streets 
that  are  most  dirty,  with  the  faulty  loaf  hanging  from  his 
neck."  Fines  were  commonly  imposed  by  the  gild 
ordinances  and  were  frequently  collected,  but  though  the 
punishment  of  excommuning,  or  driving  from  the  brother- 
hood, was  also  commonly  threatened,  it  would  not  seem 
often  to  have  been  resorted  to  ;  it  was,  indeed,  the  most 
severe  of  all  the  social  punishments. 

^  Thus  in  England  in  1548  it  was  enacted  that :  "  It  shall  be  lawful  for 
all  manner  of  shoemakers,  coblers,  sadlers,  girdlers,  badgemakers,  and  all 
other  artificers  using  leathers  in  their  art,  to  buy  all  kind  of  tanned  leather, 
...  at  Leaden  Hall  in  London,  upon  every  Monday  in  the  year,  though 
neither  the  buyer  nor  seller  be  free  of  the  City  of  London." 

99 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Tudor  Legislation 

In  England  under  the  Tudors,  as  in  France  during  the 
seventeenth  century,  a  new  movement  became  apparent, 
or,  rather,  perhaps  we  should  say  that  the  occasional  acts 
of  earlier  centuries  became  consolidated  into  a  system. 
As  we  shall  see,  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century 
was,  in  England,  a  hard  time  for  the  poor.  Many  tens 
of  thousands  of  peasants  were  driven  from  the  land.  The 
wages  of  the  craftsmen  remained  almost  stationary;  the 
price  of  commodities  greatly  increased.  The  textile 
workers  spread  into  the  rural  districts,  while  the  agri- 
cultural labourer  was  compelled  to  find  work  in  the  towns, 
or,  more  frequently,  was  driven  to  beg  his  way  to  the 
gallows.  The  development  of  the  textile  industries 
b  taught  in  to  some  small  extent  a  capitalistic  system,  and 
with  that  system  arose  the  problem  of  the  living  wage  in 
its  modern  form.  Poverty  became  a  general  evil.  Vaga- 
bondage presented  the  Government  with  some  of  its  most 
serious  cares.  How  the  Tudors  approached  the  question  of 
the  poor  we  shall  consider  in  the  following  chapter;  how 
they  tackled  the  problems  of  employment  we  will  now 
shortly  describe. 

The  reign  of  Henry  VIII  is  not  notable  for  any  wide 
departure  from  earlier  practice.  We  have  an  elaborate 
Act,  cast  in  the  customary  form,  fixing  wages  for  labourers 
in  husbandry,  builders  of  houses  and  of  ships,^  and  there 
is  evidence  that  the  State  was  preparing  to  replace  the  gild 
control   with   some   form  of  State   regulation.     There   is 

^  The  6  Hen.  VIII,  c.  3  (i  514-15),  fixed  the  following  maxima 
among  others  :  bailiffs  of  husbandry,  26/.  %d.  and  clothing  or  i^s. ;  chief 
hind  as  a  carter  or  shepherd,  2  2 J.  and  clothing  or  5/.  ;  common  servant  of 
husbandry,  26/.  %d.  and  clothing  or  \s. ;  woman  servant,  10/.  and  clothing 
or  \s. ;  child  under  fourteen,  6;.  %d.  and  clothing  or  4/.  per  year.  Free- 
mason, master  carpenter,  rough  mason,  bricklayer,  master  tiler,  plumber, 
glazier,  carver  or  joiner,  per  day,  6d.-\d.  summer,  ^d.-^d.  winter,  or  if 
in  charge  of  six  men,  jd.-^^d.,  the  higher  wage  being  without  meat  and 
drink,  the  lower  with  meat  and  drink. 

100 


THE     MASTER    WORKER 

but  little  evidence  of  any  desire  on  the  part  of  the  Govern- 
ment either  to  assist  or  to  repress  the  people. 

The  general  trend  of  legislation  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI 
would  appear,  on  the  other  hand,  to  have  been  repressive. 
Several  trades  were  regulated  in  a  manner  not  dissimilar 
to  that  earUer  adopted  by  the  gilds,  and  such  Acts  as  those 
dealing  with  coryers  and  shoemakers,  tanners,  steel- 
forgers,  weavers,  and  maltsters  follow  an  ancient  model. 
In  matters  relating  to  labour  the  Acts  are  harsh.  One 
that  enslaved  the  out-of-work  we  have  adverted  to,  another 
(2  and  3  Edw.  VI,  c.  15)  which  dealt  with  "  conspiracies 
by  artificers  "  calls  for  comment. 

For  a  season  there  was  indeed  a  time  in  which  reaction 
struggled  for  the  mastery.  As  we  have  seen,  the 
I  Edw.  VI,  c.  3,  actually  enslaved  idle  persons  who  were 
unable  to  find  suitable  work,  and  although  that  Act  was 
soon  repealed,  William  Cecil  in  1559  submitted  proposals 
to  Parliament  advising  its  re-enactment  with  additions.  In 
the  same  proposals  it  was  advised  that  earlier  repressive 
Acts  should  be  passed  so  that,  "  by  the  hands  of  the 
masters,  servants  may  be  reduced  to  obedience." 

Act  against  Combinations 

This  Act,  having  recited  that 

Forasmuch  as  of  late  days  divers  sellers  of  victuals,  not  contented 
with  moderate  and  reasonable  gain,  be  minding  to  have  and  to 
take  for  their  victuals  so  much  as  list  them,  have  conspired  and 
covenanted  together  to  sell  their  victuals  at  unreasonable  prices  ; 
and  likewise  artificers,  handicraft  men,  and  labourers  have  made 
confederacies  and  promises  and  have  sworn  mutual  oaths  not 
only  that  they  should  not  meddle  one  with  another's  work,  and 
perform  and  finish  that  which  another  hath  begun,  but  also  to 
constitute  and  appoint  how  much  work  they  should  do  in  a  day 
and  what  hours  and  times  they  should  work,  contrary  to  the 
Laws  and  Statutes  of  this  Realm,  to  the  great  hurt  and  impoverish- 
ment of  the  King's  Majesty's  subjects, 

proceeded   to  enact   that   covenants  and  conspiracies  not 
to  sell  either  commodities  or  labour  save  at  agreed  figures 

lOI 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

were  an  offence,  for  which  the  offender  was  liable  to  a  fine, 
and,  on  the  third  conviction,  to  the  pillory,  loss  of  an  ear, 
and  infamy.  It  is  an  admirable  example  of  the  medieval 
practice  of  legislating  solely  in  the  interest  of  the  consumer. 
The  Act  permitted  the  various  kinds  of  workmen 
employed  in  housebuilding  to  work  freely  in  corporate 
towns  though  not  freemen  of  such  towns. 

Quarterly  Contracts  Compulsory 

By  the  3  and  4  Edw.  VI,  c.  22,  the  State,  once  more 
endeavouring  to  suppress  the  out-of-work  and  to  cope 
with  the  vagabonds  that  were  spreading  in  increasing 
numbers  throughout  the  land,  endeavoured  to  prevent 
idleness  by  making  the  contract  of  service  of  the  journey- 
men in  numerous  crafts  of  a  minimum  length  of  three 
months.      It  had  been  complained  that : 

Many  young  folk  and  servants  of  sundry  occupations  being 
once  out  of  their  apprenticeship  or  their  yearly  retained  service 
will  not  commonly  be  retained  in  service  by  the  year,  nor  labour 
in  their  service,  occupation,  or  craft,  .  .  .  but  at  their  liberty  by 
the  day,  week,  or  otherwise  work  by  grete,  to  the  intent  they  will 
live  idly  and  at  their  pleasure  flee  and  resort  from  place  to  place, 
whereof  ensueth  more  inconveniences  than  can  be  at  this  present 
expressed  and  declared. 

It  was  consequently  provided  that  certain  types  of 
journeymen,  i.e.,  clothmakers,  fullers,  shearmen,  weavers, 
tailors,  and  shoemakers,  should  serve  by  the  quarter,  and 
that  certain  other  classes  of  workpeople,  i.e.,  unmarried 
servants  in  husbandry  and  bargemen,  should  serve  by  the 
year  at  least.  It  was  further  provided  that  every  master 
in  the  skilled  crafts  above  mentioned  having  three 
apprentices  should  employ  one  journeyman  at  least  and 
a  further  journeyman  for  every  additional  apprentice 
received. 

It  was  probably  with  a  view  to  reducing  the  number 
of  tramps  then  infesting  the  roads  of  England  that  the 
Act  of  1552,  **  for  tinkers  and  pedlars,"  required  to  be 
licensed  all  pedlars,  tinkers,  and  petty  chapmen  who 
102 


THE     MASTER    WORKER 

shall  wander  or  go  from  one  town  to  another  or  from  place  to 
place,  out  of  the  town,  parish,  or  village  where  such  persons  shall 
dwell,  and  sell  pins,  points,  laces,  gloves,  knives,  glasses,  tapes, 
or  any  such  kinds  of  wares  whatsoever,  or  gather  rabbit-skins  or 
such  like  things,  or  use  or  exercise  the  trade  or  occupation  of  a 
tinker. 

First  Signs  of  a  Factory  System 

It  is  in  the  following  reign  that  an  Act  appears  upon 
the  Statute  Book  drafted  in  a  form  which  suggests  that 
already  some  of  the  problems  connected  with  the  grouping 
of  labour  under  one  master,  the  aggregation  of  large 
numbers  of  looms  by  one  employer,  and  the  use  of  unskilled 
labour  to  displace  the  trained  hands,  were  beginning  to 
appear.  By  the  "  Act  touching  weavers  "  (2  and  3 
P.  and  M.,  c.  11)  we  are  informed  that  the  wealthier 
clothiers  "  do  many  ways  oppress  [their  workpeople], 
some  by  setting  up  and  keeping  in  their  houses  divers 
looms,  and  keeping  and  maintaining  journeymen  and 
persons  unskilful,  to  the  decay  of  a  great  number  of 
artificers  which  were  brought  up  in  the  said  science  of 
weaving,  their  families,  and  households."  The  Act,  in 
order  to  protect  the  small  man  and  the  skilled  weaver, 
limited  the  number  of  looms  and  apprentices  which  any 
man  might  have  and  declared  that  no  one  should  "  set 
up  the  art  or  mistery  of  weaving  "  unless  he  was  a  skilled 
person  and  had  served  an  apprenticeship  of  at  least  seven 
years. 

In  Elizabeth  the  people  had  a  monarch  not  unmindful 
of  their  welfare,  and  in  her  reign  serious  efforts  were  made 
to  establish  a  reasonable  standard  of  life  for  the  working 
classes.  The  mode  followed  was  the  State  regulation  of 
industry. 

At  this  period  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  masses 
were  in  need  of  protection.  We  see  from  the  case  of  the 
spinsters  of  Sudbury  that  by  1630  the  employers  of  labour 
throughout  the  country  were  combining  to  force  down 
the  wages  of  their  operatives,  and  as  early  as   1555  the 

103 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

'*  Act  touching  weavers  "  above  referred  to  shows  that 
in  the  textile  industry  masters  were  beginning  to  be  a 
class  apart  from  their  employees,  were  owning  many  looms, 
and  were  employing  many  hands.  Between  those  years 
the  value  of  money  vastly  fluctuated  and  the  workpeople 
were  threatened  with  a  deplorable  reduction  in  their 
standard  of  living.  Even  in  1623,  after  the  most  violent 
of  these  fluctuations  had  abated,  we  find  the  textile  workers 
of  Wiltshire  complaining  that  most  of  those  who  worked 
at  the  making  of  woollen  cloth  were  not  able  by  their 
diligent  labours  to  get  their  livings,  by  reason  that  their 
employers  made  them  work  extremely  hard  and  reduced 
their  wages  to  what  they  pleased.  The  workers  found 
refuge  in  a  petition  to  the  justices. 

The  justices  had  by  that  date  been  given  the  widest 
powers  of  investigating  and  controlling  wages  in  all 
industries.  This  duty  had,  of  course,  been  imposed  upon 
the  justices  in  certain  cases  many  years  before,  but  by  the 
Statute  of  Artificers,  Labourers,  Servants  in  Husbandry, 
and  Apprentices,  passed  in  1563,  all  the  early  laws  were 
amended  and  consolidated  and  the  justices*  powers  con- 
siderably augmented. 

The  Statute  of  Artificers  or  Apprentices 

This  famous  statute,  sometimes  referred  to  as  the 
Statute  of  Artificers,  and  sometimes  as  the  Statute  of 
Apprentices,  was  a  serious  and  worthy  attempt  to  put  the 
industrial  house  in  order.  Its  ruling  purpose  is  declared 
in  the  preamble,  and  is  expressed  in  the  hope  "  that  it 
will  come  to  pass  that  the  same  law,  being  duly  executed, 
should  banish  idleness,  advance  husbandry,  and  yield  unto 
the  hired  person  both  in  the  time  of  scarcity  and  in  the  time 
of  plenty  a  convenient  proportion  of  wages." 

The  statute  provided  generally,  and  subject  in  many 
instances  to  important  provisos  which  we  cannot  stay  to 
consider,  as  follows  : 

Married  persons  under  thirty,  not  being  worth  ten  pounds, 
nor  holding  land  of  the  yearly  value  of  forty  shillings,  and 
104 


THE     MASTER    WORKER 

unmarried  women  between  the  ages  of  twelve  and  forty, 
could  be  required  to  serve,  the  former  class  at  any  trade 
in  which  they  had  been  trained,  the  latter  in  such  work 
as  the  justices  considered  meet.  Employers,  in  the  case 
of  numerous  trades  enumerated,  were  required  in  future 
to  engage  their  workpeople  for  a  year,  though  in  other 
trades  the  old  daily  or  weekly  contracts  still  continued. 
Persons  who  were  not  trained  in  any  of  the  crafts  nor 
engaged  in  defined  work  (which  included  "  haunting  the 
seas  "  and  mining)  and  who  were  neither  gentlemen  born 
nor  scholars  of  a  university  or  school  were  required  to 
serve  in  husbandry. 

Neither  the  man  nor  the  master  was  permitted  to  break 
the  contract  of  service.  The  moving  about  from  district 
to  district,  or  from  town  to  town,  without  testimonials  was 
rendered  difficult,  though  it  is  evident  from  the  proposals 
of  1572  that  the  sections  relating  to  testimonials  were  in 
practice  often  evaded.  Hours  were  fixed,  and  elaborate 
machinery  was  devised  for  the  fixing  of  wages  in  all  trades. 

Hours  of  Labour 

By  this  statute  it  was  provided  that : 

All  artificers  and  labourers  being  hired  for  wages  by  the  day 
or  week  shall  between  the  middle  of  the  months  of  March  and 
September  be  at  their  work  at  or  before  five  of  the  clock  in  the 
morning,  and  continue  at  work  until  between  seven  and  eight 
of  the  clock  at  night,  except  it  be  in  the  time  of  breakfast,  dinner, 
or  drinking,  the  w^hich  times  at  the  most  shall  not  exceed  above 
two  and  a  half  hours  in  the  day. 

The  old  true  day  from  sunrise  to  sunset  was  re- 
established for  the  winter-time,  and  a  clause  was  added 
which  penalized  the  worker  who  absented  himself  to  the 
extent  of  a  penny  for  every  hour's  absence. 

Wages 

The  justices  of  the  peace  of  the  shires,  the  sheriffs  of 
the  counties,  the  mayors,  bailiffs,  or  other  head  officers 
of  the  towns,  were  required  at  the  Easter  sessions  to  call 

105 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

together  **  such  discreet  and  grave  persons  of  the  said 
county  or  city  as  they  shall  think  meet,"  with  a  view  to 
conferring  together  "  respecting  the  plenty  or  scarcity  of 
the  time  and  other  circumstances  necessary  to  be  con- 
sidered," and  should  thereupon  rate  the  wages  of  all 
labourers,  servants,  workmen,  or  artificers  as  they  thought 

Table  I. — Labourers  in  Husbandry 


Type  of  Workman 

Yearly  Wage 

BaiHff  for  husbandry 

Chief  hind  \ 
Chief  carter  i 
Chief    shepherd     (lOOO 

sheep  or  over) 
Shepherd  (600  sheep)    . 

Common  shepherd  (over 

21  years) 
Shepherds  (16-21  years) 
Common  servant  of  hus- 
bandry   over     21     or 
between  1 6-2 1  years 
Chief  woman  servant     , 
Women  servants  over  16 
years  of  age 

5 3 J.  4(/,  and  clothes  or  63/.  4^.  without 
free  clothes, 

40J.  and  clothes  or  48/.  without  free  clothes. 

40J.  and  clothes  or  48/.  without  free  clothes, 

and  pasture  for  feeding  20  sheep. 
2  3  J.  3^.  and  clothes  or  39J.  3^.  without  free 

clothes,    and    pasture  for    feeding     10 

sheep. 
33J.  4<2'.  and  clothes  or  39/.  11^.  without 

free  clothes. 
20s.  and  clothes  or  25/.  without  free  clothes. 
As  in  the  case  of  a  common  shepherd. 

3 ox.  and  clothes  or  36^.  without  free  clothes. 
20s.  and  clothes  or  25s.  without  free  clothes. 

should  be  rated.  Such  rates  were  to  be  fixed  with  meat 
and  drink  and  without  meat  and  drink.  Special  pro- 
visions were  made  for  harvest-time,  and  full  publicity  had 
to  be  made  of  the  rates  thus  fixed. 

Rates  were  fixed  sometimes  by  the  piece,  sometimes 
by  the  day,  the  week,  the  month,  or  the  year.  Price  lists 
were  usually  drawn  up  by  the  employers  for  the  considera- 
tion of  the  justices.  The  wages  of  workers  in  husbandry 
were  fixed  by  the  year  with  special  clauses  to  meet  the  case 
of  the  harvest  workers  and  the  piece-workers.  The  wages 
106 


THE    MASTER    WORKER 

in  the  case  of  artificers  appear  to  have  been  generally  paid 
in  two  scales,  one  with  meat  and  drink,  the  other  without. 

It  may  be  of  interest  if  we  reproduce  the  wages  (Tables 
I  and  II)  fixed  in  1604  in  Wiltshire  for  the  various  employ- 
ments mentioned  in  the  tables  given  on  pages  93  and  94. 

It   will  be  observed  from  Table  I  how  important  the 

Table  II. — Workmen  or  Artificers 


Type  of  Workman 

Daily  Wage 

Summer  Wage  '■ 

Winter  Wage  ^ 

Master  carpenter  . 

Ordinary  carpenter 

Master  freemason . 

Ordinary  mason    . 

Mason's  servants  (labourers)   . 

Tilers           .... 

Tiler's  knaves 

Labourers     .... 

Rough  mason  (master)  . 

Rough  mason  (ordinary) 

Bricklayer  (master) 

Bricklayer  (ordinary) 

Master  tiler .... 

Plumber  • 

Glazier 

Carver      [    ' 

Joiner       ) 

d. 
6-1 1 

4-7 
6-1 1 

4-7 

3-7 

4-8 

Not  mentioned 

3-7 
6-1 1 

4-7 
6-1 1 

4-7, 
Not  mentioned 

As  in  the  case  of  a 
carpenter 

d. 

5-10 

-7 
5-10 

3-7 
2-5 
3-7 

2-5 
5-10 

3-7 
5-10 

3-7 

shepherd  had  become,  while  the  justices  no  longer  found 
it  necessary  to  assess  the  wages  of  the  oxherd,  cowherd, 
or  swineherd  who  fell  into  the  general  rank  of  common 
servants  in  husbandry. 

We  now  get,  however,  a  vast  increase  in  the  number  of 
trades  for  which  the  wages  were  fixed.  In  the  assessment 
from  which  the  details  of  Tables  I  and  II  are  extracted  we 

^  The  lower  price  is  with  meat  and  drink,  the  higher  without  meat  and 
drink. 

107 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

find,  in  addition  to  particulars  relating  to  the  wages  paid  to 
the  various  kinds  of  labourers  employed  in  the  building  trade, 
a  wage  varying  from  forty  shillings  a  year  in  the  case  of  the 
*  chiefest '  workmen  to  twenty-six  and  eightpence  in  the 
case  of  *  common  workmen  *  being  fixed  as  the  wage  to  be 
paid  to  the  following :  shoemaker,  currier,  woollen  weaver, 
tinker,  fuller,  shearman,  clothworker,  hosier,  tailor,  baker, 
glover,  girdler,  spinner,  capper,  hatter,  felt-maker,  bowyer, 
fletcher,  arrowhead-maker,  butcher,  fishmonger,  pewterer, 
cutler,  smith,  saddler,  furrier  or  skinner,  parchment-maker, 
cooper,  earthen-potmaker,  turner. 

These  were  maximum  rates  as  heretofore.  But  a  ten- 
dency now  became  apparent  in  some  districts  for  the 
justices  to  insist  upon  the  rate  fixed  being  paid.  The 
compilers  of  the  English  Economic  History^  from  which  we 
have  frequently  quoted,  have  laid  proper  stress  upon  the 
I  Jac.  I,  c.  6,  which  empowered  justices  to  fix  minimum  rates. 
That  Act,  after  reciting  that  the  Statute  of  Apprentices 

hath  not,  according  to  the  true  meaning  thereof,  been  duly 
put  in  execution,  whereby  the  rates  of  wages  for  poor  artificers, 
labourers,  and  other  persons  whose  wages  were  meant  to  be  rated 
by  the  said  Act,  have  not  been  rated  and  proportioned  according 
to  the  plenty,  scarcity,  necessity,  and  respect  of  the  time,  which 
was  politically  intended  by  the  said  Act, 

proceeded  to  enact,  inter  alia^  that : 

If  any  clothier  or  other  shall  refuse  to  obey  the  said  order,  rate, 
or  assessment  of  wages  as  aforesaid,  and  shall  not  pay  so  much  or 
so  great  wages  to  their  weavers,  spinsters,  workmen,  or  work- 
women as  shall  be  so  set  down,  rated,  and  appointed, 

then  such  person  was  guilty  of  an  offence  and  became 
liable  to  pay  to  the  person  aggrieved  ten  shillings  for  each 
such  offence. 

Apprentices 

The  Statute  of  Apprentices,  with  certain  provisions  in 
favour  of  the  liberties  of  London  and  Norwich,  made  it 
necessary  for  every  craftsman  in  future  to  have  been  an 
apprentice  for  seven  years  at  least;  the  non-apprenticed 
io8 


THE     MASTER    WORKER 

journeyman,  except  those  already  employed,  might  not  In 
future  be  engaged  by  anyone  unless  he  had  served  the  due 
term  as  apprentice.  Apprenticeship  was  therefore  made 
essential. 

But  certain  classes  were  excluded  from  apprenticeship 
to  certain  trades.  Thus  no  one  could  become  apprentice 
to  "  a  merchant  trafficking  into  any  parts  beyond  the  seas, 
mercer,  draper,  goldsmith,  ironmonger,  embroiderer,  or 
clothier  that  doth  put  cloth  to  making  and  sale  "  unless  he 
was  the  son  of  the  master  or  of  a  person  holding  an  estate 
of  inheritance  worth  at  least  forty  shillings,  or,  in  certain 
cases,  £2  ^  year.  In  the  following  trades,  however,  no 
property  qualification  was  required :  smiths,  wheelwrights, 
ploughwrights,  millwrights,  carpenters,  rough  masons, 
plasterers,  sawyers,  lime-burners,  brick-makers,  bricklayers, 
tilers,  slaters,  healyers,^  tile-makers,  linen-weavers,  turners, 
coopers,  millers,  earthen  potters,  woollen  weavers  weaving 
housewives'  or  household  cloth  only  and  none  other,  cloth 
fullers,  sometimes  called  tuckers  or  walkers,  burners  of  ore 
and  wood  ashes,  thatchers  or  shinglers. 

It  was  rendered  difficult,  and  in  some  cases  impossible, 
for  the  labourer  in  husbandry  or  his  child  to  become 
apprentice  to  a  craftsman,  and  in  the  cities  and  corporate 
towns  it  would  appear  that  only  the  sons  of  freemen  could 
be  apprenticed,  for  by  Section  xix  it  is  provided  that : 

Every  person  being  an  householder  and  twenty-four  years  old 
at  the  least,  dwelling  in  any  city  or  town  corporate  and  exercising 
any  art,  mystery,  or  manual  occupation  there,  may  .  .  ,  retain 
the  son  of  any  freeman  not  occupying  husbandry  nor  being  a 
labourer  and  inhabiting  in  the  same  or  in  any  other  city  or  town 
incorporate,  to  be  bound  as  an  apprentice  after  the  custom  and 
order  of  the  City  of  London  for  seven  years  at  the  least,  so  as 
the  term  of  such  apprentice  do  not  expire  afore  such  apprentice 
shall  be  of  the  age  of  twenty-four  years  at  the  least. 

Craftsmen  in  market  towns  which  were  neither  cities 
nor  towns  incorporate  could  apprentice  anyone  except  the 

^  The  work  of  the  healyer,  called  healing,  was  similar  to  tiling  and 
slating. 

109 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

children  of  persons  occupying  husbandry  or  labourers  and 
subject  to  the  property  qualifications  mentioned  above. 

It  will  be  apparent  that  though  the  purposes  of  the  Act 
were  good  the  clauses  excluding  the  non-apprenticed  man 
from  industry,  and  at  the  same  time  excluding  certain 
classes  from  apprenticeship  to  the  crafts,  must  have  operated 
with  extreme  harshness.  They,  indeed,  compelled  the 
growth  of  that  very  class,  the  vagabond,  that  Tudor  legis- 
lation so  constantly  considered.  It  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  throughout  the  sixteenth  century  a  revolution  in  the 
science  and  practice  of  agriculture  was  taking  place. 
Tillage  was  giving  ground  before  the  assaults  of  the  sheep- 
farmers  ;  the  smaller  copyhold  tenants  were  in  many  dis- 
tricts being  driven  from  the  land.  We  naturally  ask 
ourselves  to  what  trade  or  employment  could  these  people 
turn  ?  To  this  question  there  appears  to  be  no  answer, 
unless  it  be  that  they  were  driven  back  on  to  the  parish 
or  to  tillage,  there  to  work  as  labourers.  As  regards  these 
people,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Statute  of  Artificers 
was  designed  to  encourage  tillage;  there  can  also  be  no 
doubt  that  it  increased  the  number  of  the  destitute,  the 
hopeless,  and  the  vagabond.  At  the  same  time,  it  protected 
and  benefited  the  craftsman  and  the  whole  class  of  skilled 
workmen.  It  is,  indeed,  an  excellent  example  of  State 
interference  aiding  one  group  of  men  at  the  expense  of 
another,  and,  as  always,  it  was  upon  the  class  least  able  to 
bear  burdens  that  the  burden  fell. 


IIO 


CHAPTER  V 

POVERTY 

THE  Tudor  period  was  for  England  a  period  of 
serious  industrial  unrest,  due,  as  such  unrest 
generally  is,  to  deep  causes  inducing  grievances 
of  wrong.  The  sixteenth  century  saw,  indeed,  a  change, 
not  as  impressive  or  as  fundamental  as  that  which  followed 
upon  the  invention  of  mechanical  power,  but  of  great 
importance  and  far-reaching  effect.  It  was  a  change 
concerned  rather  with  the  land  and  with  the  land-worker 
than  with  the  craftsmen  of  the  towns,  but  it  had  its 
repercussion  upon  the  urban  worker  also. 

The  change  of  which  we  now  speak  resulted  in  the 
enclosing  of  thousands  of  acres  of  land,  in  the  throwing 
out  of  employment  of  many  labourers  in  husbandry,  in 
the  diverting  of  labour  from  countryside  to  town.  It 
caused  the  competition  between  craftsmen  to  become  more 
acute.  These  agrarian  changes  were  at  the  same  time 
accompanied  by  an  economic  revolution  due  mainly  to  the 
discovery  of  the  New  World  and  its  valuable  silver  mines, 
with  the  resulting  depreciation  of  the  currency,  or,  to  express 
the  same  fact  in  other  terms,  increase  in  the  cost  of  living. 
This  economic  revolution,  it  is  true,  took  place  rather  at 
the  end  of  the  period,  while  the  agrarian  changes  were 
being  effected  throughout  the  century,  but  the  two  causes 
together  created  the  new  problem  which  it  was  the  purpose 
of  the  Poor  Law  of  Elizabeth's  reign  to  solve,  a  problem 
which  was  not,  and  perhaps  cannot  be,  solved  by  mere 
legislation,  and  which  has  remained  with  us  to  the  pre- 
sent day — the  problem  of  how  to  prevent  working  people 
falling  into  unmerited  indigence. 

in 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

The  Pauper 

Poverty  has  existed,  we  have  no  doubt,  from  the  earliest 
years  of  the  world's  history.  The  Able  have  always  been 
capable  of  repressing  the  Unable,  but  the  problem  of 
unmerited  and  excessive  poverty  is  a  comparatively  modern 
one.  The  serf,  poor  though  he  was,  had  his  land  and 
continuity  of  employment.  If  he  worked  well  he  was 
secure  from  actual  starvation.  So  long  as  he  obeyed  he 
was  protected.  But  with  the  divorce  of  the  worker  from 
the  land  the  struggle  for  a  tolerable  existence  changed 
both  in  intensity  and  in  direction.  The  worker  was,  as  it 
were,  driven  into  the  world  with  no  fortress  behind  him 
into  which  to  retreat  should  the  battle  go  unfavourably. 
It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  not  infrequently  he  fell 
wounded  by  the  wayside,  and  then  for  him  and  his  children 
nothing  remained  but  vagrancy  or  death,  until  at  last  a 
benignant  State  opened  the  doors  of  the  workhouse — 
perhaps  the  most  dreaded  and  hated  institution  this  country 
has  ever  produced. 

We  now  speak,  it  is  to  be  understood,  rather  of  the 
peasant  than  of  the  craftsman,  though  to  a  limited  extent 
our  remarks  also  apply  to  the  urban  worker.  The  crafts- 
man had,  however,  his  gilds  and,  later,  his  fraternities  or 
corporations,  which  were  able,  to  some  extent,  to  succour 
him  should  he  fall  on  evil  days.  He  was  to  a  con- 
siderable degree  protected  by  the  State.  He  had  skill. 
The  industrialism  which  he  served,  and  of  which  he  was 
the  life-blood,  was  a  living  and  growing  organism.  As  a 
consequence  his  condition,  until  the  whole  future  of  that 
organism  was  destroyed  by  the  introduction  of  mechanical 
power,  was  tolerable  and  in  many  ways  superior  to  that 
of  the  peasant. 

Agrarian  Changes 

For  convenience  we  may  perhaps  date  the  agrarian 
changes  of  which  we  are  now  speaking  from  the  Black 
Death,  though  we  have  little  doubt  it  would  have  occurred 
112 


POVERTY 

had  there  been  no  such  widespread  pestilence.  The  Statute 
of  Merton,  a  statute  passed  more  than  a  hundred  years  before 
that  visitation,  bears  witness  that  even  then  the  first  steps 
in  the  change  were  being  taken  and  the  lords  were  com- 
mencing to  enclose  the  wastes.  The  Black  Death,  how- 
ever, hastened  matters.  The  dearth  of  labour  which  for 
many  years  after  was  felt  in  all  departments  of  industry 
bore  with  special  hardness  upon  the  industry  of  agri- 
culture. The  landowner  looked  with  longing  upon  the 
old  days  of  servile  services.  Those  days  were  past,  but 
by  statute  it  was  sought  to  place  labour  once  more  and  to 
some  extent  at  the  command  of  the  employer.  Even  so, 
however,  there  was  not  enough  labour  available.  The 
landowner  cut  the  Gordian  knot  by  taking  advantage  of 
the  prosperous  condition  of  the  English  wool  industry 
and  turned  his  land  from  arable  to  pasture.  The  peasant 
looked  also  with  eagerness  toward  the  comparatively  new 
class  of  the  artisans  and  aimed  at  making  his  children 
craftsmen  rather  than  agriculturists.  Again  statute  re- 
pressed the  desires  of  the  peasant,  but  statute  has  never 
been  able  to  oppose  successfully  or  for  long  popular 
aspirations.  The  trek  of  the  land-worker  cityward  grew  in 
volume;  the  dearth  of  agricultural  labour  did  not  abate; 
the  acreage  under  pasture  steadily  increased. 

Meanwhile  another  cause  contributing  to  the  final  re- 
sult was  beginning  to  assume  importance.  Trade  was 
flourishing  and  many  fortunes  were  being  made.  Civil 
war  had  gravely  reduced  the  numbers,  the  power,  and  the 
wealth  of  the  old  aristocracy  of  birth  based  on  land-holding. 
A  new  aristocracy  of  wealth  was  arising  and  was  becoming 
implanted  in  all  our  shires  and  counties.  Some  of  the 
new  landowners  of  substance  were  men  of  the  merchant 
class  who  had  made  a  fortune  and  had  then  turned,  as  so 
many  men  did  and  do,  to  the  land  whereon  to  enjoy  **  the 
earth  and  the  fulness  thereof";  others  had  arrived  at 
their  status  of  large  landowners  in  a  different  manner. 

In  order  to  understand  the  rise  of  this  second  class — 
the    large    working    farmer,    generally    a     stock-breeder 

H  113 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

or  farmer,  or  person  working  in  convertible  husbandry 
— we  must  consider  once  again  the  feudal  system  of  land- 
holding. 

The  Manor 

As  we  have  already  remarked,  the  unit  of  land-holding 
was  commonly  the  manor,  and  within  the  manor  there  were 
always  to  be  found  the  demesne  lands,  the  home  farm  of 


the  lord  ;  the  holdings  of  the  sub-tenants,  some  of  which 
were  in  villeinage  and  some  in  freehold;  the  common 
fields ;  the  waste. 

The  way  in  which  a  manor  was  divided  up  is  shown 
in  the  simplest  possible  manner  in  the  above  plan. 
There  we  see  the  demesne  lands  in  the  centre  of  a  manor 
which  we  have  made  for  simplicity's  sake  rectangular  in 
shape.  The  various  strips  E — M  represent  the  strips  of 
land  worked  by  the  tenants  in  villeinage,  whose  cottages 
would  be  in  the  hamlet  and  would  probably  border  the 
1 14 


POVERTY 

road.  Each,  it  will  be  observed,  has  several  strips  (only 
three  for  each  are  shown,  but  usually  the  number  would  be 
thirty  or  sixty)  and  the  strips  held,  for  example,  by  E,  arc 
not  contiguous.  Each  tenant  held  several  strips  in  order 
that  he  might  cultivate  his  land  in  rotation,  and  yet  culti- 
vate each  year  the  kind  of  crop  most  useful  and  necessary 
for  him.  The  strips  were  not  fenced  from  neighbouring 
strips,  but  were  all  on  common  arable  fields,  and  were 
usually  divided  by  furrows  or  banks  of  grass.  The  areas 
marked  A,  B,  C,  D,  are  closes  which  have  been  enclosed 
as  a  rule  from  the  waste,  and  in  the  period  of  which  we 
are  now  speaking  are  commonly  held  by  their  tenants  in 
lease,  but  may  also  be  held  in  freehold  by  earlier  grant. 
The  *  strip  '  portion  is  entirely  arable,  and  the  tenants 
are  what  we  might  now  describe  as  the  tenants  of  small 
holdings.  They  have,  as  a  rule,  the  right  to  grind  their 
corn  at  the  manorial  mill,  bake  their  bread  at  the  manorial 
bakehouse,  brew  their  beer  or  press  their  cider  at  the 
manorial  brewery  or  cider-press.  They  have  also  the  right 
to  pasture  their  sheep,  etc.,  on  the  common  pasture  land, 
which  is  regarded  as  belonging  to  all  the  tenants  and  the 
lord  of  the  manor  in  common.  They  have  in  addition 
various  customary  rights  over  the  waste,  e.g.^  the  common 
of  turbary,  or  the  right  to  cut  turf  for  peat  for  their  own 
hearth  fires.  If  there  is  a  river  running  through  the 
manor  lands  the  common  of  piscary,  or  the  right  to  fish 
therein,  is  frequently  owned;  if  there  are  woodlands,  the 
right  to  feed  their  pigs  therein  and  the  right  to  gather 
wood  is  usually  possessed. 

In  addition  to  the  classes  above  named,  there  may  be 
cottars  having  but  a  cottage  and  a  small  garden,  or  there 
may  be  squatters — persons  who  have  built  cottages  or 
hovels  on  the  waste  and  have  not  been  dispossessed. 

Two  things  at  once  strike  one  when  considering  the 
manor;  (i)  the  great  importance  to  the  tenants  in 
villeinage  of  the  waste  and  the  common  lands;  (2)  the 
hopelessly  unscientific,  though  fair,  system  of  dividing  up 
the  copyhold  tenants'  arable  land  into  a  large  number  of 

115 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

strips  whereby  the  same  tenant  was  the  holder  of  scattered 
fragments  widely  separated  the  one  from  the  others.  At 
the  same  time  the  copyholders  had  a  real  and  substantial 
position  in  a  unit  of  great  social  and  political  power — the 
manor — and  while  they  still  held  that  share  we  hear  but 
little  of  vagrancy  and  Poor  Laws. 

The  copyholders  were,  however,  not  in  the  same  strong 
position  so  far  as  their  holding  was  concerned  as  the  free- 
holders. They  were  protected  only  by  the  custom  of  the 
manor,  and  over  that  custom  the  lord  could,  in  the  medieval 
period,  exercise  considerable  control.  Indeed,  as  yet  we 
can  hardly  speak  of  copyholding;  many  of  the  tenants 
were  but  recently  emerged  from  serfdom,  and  their  holding, 
which  had  been  at  will  in  return  for  services,  was  now  at 
will  in  return  for  rent.  Such  tenants — and  they  formed 
the  vast  majority  of  the  peasant  population — could  be 
dispossessed  at  will. 

Enclosure 

It  was  while  our  land  laws  were  at  this  stage  of  develop- 
ment that  the  movement  in  favour  of  sheep-breeding  and 
pasturage  commenced.  The  labourers  were  reduced  in 
number,  their  tenancies  were  in  some  cases  terminated, 
and  their  strips  granted  to  someone  else  in  lease.  Little 
by  little,  as  England  became  more  and  more  a  meat-eating 
and  less  and  less  a  cereal-consuming  country,  the  breeding 
of  cattle  developed,  and  the  need  for  large  farms  was  felt. 
Again,  the  need  for  a  particular  user  of  land,  and  one 
different  from  that  which  had  been  customary,  pressed 
most  heavily  on  those  whose  powers  of  resistance  were  the 
least.  The  humble  tenants  of  strips  found  their  strips 
rearranged  or  their  tenancies  terminated.  The  farmer  by 
lease  obtained  wider  and  wider  lands.  The  lords* 
encroachments  on  the  waste  lands — an  encroachment 
permitted  by  the  Statute  of  Merton  subject  to  the  tenants 
being  left  '  sufficient '  waste  land — became  greater  and 
greater,  and  the  sorry  story  of  the  first  of  the  two  great 
*  enclosure  *  episodes  had  begun. 
ii6 


POVERTY 

To  quote  Archdeacon  Cunningham : 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  some  cases  there  was  deh'berate 
depopulating  on  the  part  of  landlords  who  desired  to  get  the 
whole  of  the  area  into  their  own  hands  and  to  use  it  in  the  way 
that  gave  them  most  profit  or  pleasure.  The  practice  of  granting 
land  on  leases  of  lives  had  become  common,  so  that  on  an  estate 
where  the  new  system  of  land  management  was  adopted,  the 
tenantry  could  be  gradually  dispossessed  without  any  straining  of 
legal  rights  on  the  part  of  the  landlords.  ...  In  very  many 
instances,  however,  it  would  appear  that  the  landlords  were  not 
the  prime  movers  in  the  matter,  but  they  were  only  to  be  blamed 
for  giving  permission  to  enterprising  tenants  to  enclose.  There 
is  ample  evidence  that  the  process  of  differentiation  was  going 
on  among  the  English  peasantry  and  yeomen,  and  that  while 
some  felt  the  pressure  of  the  new  conditions  severely,  others  were 
prospering  greatly.^ 

It  would  appear  that  in  agriculture,  as  in  industry,  the 
level  plain  of  workers  was  beginning  to  form  within  the 
pyramid  of  society  in  general  a  fresh  pyramid.  As  the 
master  and  the  journeyman  were  growing  farther  and 
farther  apart,  so  the  peasant  was  turning  on  the  one  hand 
into  a  landless  agricultural  labourer,  and  on  the  other  into 
a  prosperous  farmer. 

The  tendency  thus  to  split  up  into  two  branches  was 
increased  when  the  wealthy  burgesses  looked  to  the 
counties  wherein  to  spend  a  portion  of  their  gains.  The 
old  family  ties  of  squire  or  lord  and  man  were  now  utterly 
dissolved;  the  personal  equation  counted  but  little,  and  in 
the  great  name  of  Mammon  the  labourer  was  conjured  to 
depart ;  or,  if  he  were  permitted  to  remain,  he  remained  as 
a  labourer  and  not  as  a  tenant  of  the  land. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  thought  that  the  peasant- 
proprietor  ceased  to  exist.  On  the  contrary,  in  the 
majority  of  cases  he  continued  as  in  earlier  ages  to  work 
his  strips  and  to  work  on  his  landlord's  demesne  in  return 
for  rent  on  the  one  hand  and  wages  on  the  other.  The 
commons  and  the  wastes  were  still  available,  though  in 

1  Growth  of  English  Industry  and  Commerce. 

117 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

many  cases  to  a  diminished  extent.  It  was  not  in  the 
majority,  but  in  the  minority,  of  cases  that  the  peasants 
were  becoming  landless  ;  the  minority,  however,  was  an 
important  one,  and  the  labourers  affected  tended  to  become 
the  flotsam  and  jetsam  which  the  Poor  Law  system  was 
designed  to  save. 

Kett's  Rebellion 

There  is  much  evidence  that  those  at  the  helm  of  the  State 
fully  realized  the  dangerous  nature  of  the  trend  of  events. 
They  had  the  example  of  Germany  before  them.  They 
were,  moreover,  wise,  far-sighted  men  of  a  higher  level 
of  ability  than  England  had  known  for  generations.  But 
though  they  passed  laws  restricting  sheep-breeding,  though 
they  issued  decrees  against  all  enclosures  made  since  1485, 
it  was  of  no  avail.  The  whole  weight  of  society  in  Tudor 
days  was  to  be  found  in  the  men  of  wealth  and  standing. 
Wolsey,  More,  Somerset,  Cranmer,  Latimer — all  protested 
against  what  Professor  Pollard  has  well  called  the 
individualist  exploitation  of  the  community,  and -^3J:u:itested 
in  vain.  The  laws  which  had  been  placed  on  the  Statute 
Book  remained  to  a  great  extent  dead  letters  ;  other  laws 
which  were  drafted  and  pressed  upon  the  Commons  time 
after  time  by  the  member  for  Preston  ■"•  were  defeated 
either  in  the  House  of  Commons  or  in  the  Lords.  The 
ill  work  continued,  and  by  1548  it  was  estimated  in  the 
Supplication  to  the  Commons  that  300,000  persons  had 
been  thrown  out  of  work.  The  peasants  began  to  see 
little  but  starvation  or  slavery  before  them  and  theirs.  The 
time  was  ripe  for  rebellion,  and  in  1549,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Robert  Kett,  a  dangerous  revolt  broke  out  in 
Norfolk,  but  ended,  as  had  those  other  risings  under  Owain 
Glyndwr  and  under  Wat  Tyler,  in  defeat.  The  English 
labourer,  unlike  the  peasant  of  France  or  of  Germany, 
was  beginning  to  be  a  person  divorced  from  the  land 
he  tilled.  The  old  customary  holding  of  a  virgate  (thirty 
acres)  or  half-virgate  was  shrinking  to  a  mere  allotment, 

1  John  Hales  the  younger. 
118 


POVERTY 

if  it  did  not  actually  disappear.  The  profits  and  common 
rights  were  being  reduced.  Merrie  England  was  passing 
out  and  the  workhouse  and  the  Poor  Law  system  were 
coming  in. 

Depreciation  of  the  Currency 

But  the  sorrows  of  the  land-worker  were  not  the  only 
ills  that  befell  the  working  classes  in  this  age  of  comparative 
prosperity.  The  increase  in  the  cost  of  living  due  to  the 
depreciation  of  the  currency  caused  wages  nominally  to 
rise  slightly,  but  in  fact  to  fall  sharply.  Both  ills  were 
caused  at  bottom  neither  by  exceptional  greed  on  the  part 
of  those  who  had,  nor  by  exceptional  folly  on  the  part  of 
those  who  had  not,  but  by  factors  beyond  human  control. 

The  enclosing  of  the  labourers'  lands  pressed  heavily 
upon  the  generation  that  experienced  it,  even  as  did  the 
enclosing  of  the  commons  two  centuries  later,  but  it  must 
be  recognized  that  had  no  alteration  taken  place  in  the 
ancient  distribution  of  land  the  England  of  to-day  would 
probably  have  been  much  less  prosperous  than  she  is. 
The  old  system  could  not  have  maintained  itself  against 
modern  competition  and  must  sooner  or  later  have  given 
way  to  scientific  farming  on  the  large  scale.  To-day  in 
France  one  sees  the  result  of  vast  numbers  of  small  holdings 
in  a  land  fully  cultivated  and  in  a  peasantry  overborne  by 
what  to  an  Englishman  seems  excessive  toil.  There  the 
"merry larks  are  ploughmen's  clocks," and  the  land-worker, 
often  in  the  hands  of  usurers,  works  from  dawn  till  sunset 
to  produce  a  modern  living  out  of  a  medieval  holding. 
From  that  the  Englishman  has  been  saved,  but  in  the 
saving  he  has  been  driven  almost  completely  off  the  land. 
As  Archdeacon  Cunningham  says. 

The  form  of  enclosure  which  was  being  pushed  on  by  enter- 
prising tenants,  who  desired  to  have  holdings  in  severalty,  was 
a  real  improvement  in  agriculture,  and  provided  an  increased 
food  supply  ;  and  no  government  could  have  seriously  set  about 
trying  to  stop  it.^ 

^  Growth  of  English  Industry  and  Commerce. 

119 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

The   discovery   of  America,    on   the   other   hand,    had 
results  which  no  one  could  foresee,  results  which  caused 
the  increase  in  the  production  of  the  food  supply  to  have 
little  effect  on  the  cost  of  food.     In    1495  ^^^  price  of 
wheat  was  but  a  fraction  of  a  penny  above  four  shillings 
a  quarter,  while  a   hundred   years   later   it  had  risen   to 
I  Ss.  ^\d.     Wages  in  the  meantime  had  nominally  increased 
by  from  25  per  cent,  to  2,2\  per  cent.     As  Thorold  Rogers 
observes  in  Six  Centuries  of  Work  and  Wages,  "  The  work 
of  a  whole  year  would  not  supply  the  labourer  with  the 
quantity  which  in    1495  ^^^  labourer  earned  with  fifteen 
weeks'  labour."     The  work  which   Columbus  had  com- 
menced in    1492  was  destined  to  have  the  greatest  and 
most  magnificent  of  results,  but  the  consequences  for  the 
moment  were  little  less  than  disastrous  to   many   of  the 
workers.     The    new    era    of   adventure    and    exploration 
brought  to  England   sea-power,    and  in  time  a  splendid 
colonial  empire  in  which  her  population  could  expand  to 
form   powerful  and  wealthy  states  and  dominions.     But 
all   that   was   as  yet   far  in   the   future.     The  immediate 
result  was  more  individual  wealth  and  more  widespread 
poverty. 

Minor  Causes  of  Poverty 

It  is  to  these  two  main  causes  that  we  look  for  the  need 
for  the  State  regulation  of  poverty.  There  were,  of  course, 
many  minor  factors,  of  which,  perhaps,  the  most  important 
were  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries  and  the  debasement 
of  the  coinage  under  the  second  of  the  Tudors.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  abominable  persecutions  then  being 
perpetrated  in  the  Low  Countries  under  the  Duke  of 
Alva  and  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  so  graphically  described 
in  Motley's  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  and  the  later  ill- 
treatment  of  the  Huguenots  in  France,  caused  a  flood  of 
immigrants  to  find  shelter  in  England,  an  immigration 
which  on  the  whole  was  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  English 
trade.  New  industries  were  introduced,  old  industries 
improved,  but  it  can  hardly  be  that  the  new  influx  did 
120 


POVERTY 

not  cause,  temporarily,  considerable  unemployment  among 

the   native  workers.      The  age   was   an   age   of  change 

change  in  thought,  in  religion,  in  outlook,  in  methods 
both  of  agriculture  and  of  industry.  Change  is  always 
apt  to  bear  hardly  on  those  trembling  on  the  brink  of 
destitution.  The  expropriation  of  a  large  part  of  the 
gild  property  had  an  effect,  as  Mr  G.  T.  Warner  has 
remarked,^  not  very  dissimilar  to  that  which  would  result 
were  the  Government  to-day  to  confiscate  all  the  funds  of 
the  benefit  societies  and  sick-pay  clubs. 

Of  these  various  causes  one  only  could  be  dealt  with 
in  a  completely  satisfactory  manner.  The  debasement  of 
the  coinage,  which  had  compelled  the  Government  to  pay 
25  per  cent,  on  its  loans,  was  tackled  under  Elizabeth. 
A  new  coinage  was  issued  and  the  old  called  in.  But 
the  effect,  so  far  as  prices  were  concerned,  was  largely 
countered,  as  the  improvement  had  been  made  possible, 
by  that  influx  of  American  silver  of  which  we  have  already 
spoken.  Prices  continued  to  soar  and  wages  failed  to 
keep  pace  with  them.  Poverty,  destitution,  and  beggary 
became  a  more  and  more  serious  problem. 

The  remedies  proposed  were  various  and  in  many  cases 
savage.  The  *  sturdy  beggar,'  that  is  to  say,  the  unem- 
ployed worker,  was  regarded  more  as  a  criminal  than  as 
an  unfortunate  whose  succour  it  should  be  the  first  duty 
of  the  State  to  secure.  We  doubt  whether  Thorold  Rogers 
was  justified  in  saying  that  during  the  whole  period  from 
1563  to  1824 

The  English  law,  and  those  who  administered  the  law,  were 
engaged  in  grinding  the  English  workman  down  to  the  lowest 
pittance,  in  stamping  out  every  expression  or  act  which  indicated 
any  organized  discontent,  and  in  multiplying  penalties  upon  him 
when  he  thought  of  his  natural  rights.^ 

We  have  seen  that  both  under  Elizabeth  and  under  James  I 
efforts  were  made  to  preserve  to  the  workers  a  competent 

^   Tillage,  Trade,  and  Invention. 
2  Six  Centuries  of  Work  and  Wages. 

121 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

measure  of  wages.  Throughout  the  seventeenth  and  the 
first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  administrative  part 
of  the  Government  received,  considered,  and  in  many  cases 
supported,  petitions  presented  by  working  people  which 
aimed  at  the  establishment  of  a  reasonable  standard  of  life. 
At  the  same  time,  the  State  was  slow  to  regard  the  out-of- 
work  as  anything  other  than  at  worst  a  criminal  and  at 
best  a  nuisance.  Work  was  regarded  as  a  duty,  but  it 
was  not  seen  that  that  duty  involved  the  right  to  work. 
This  right  was  one  always  sturdily  contended  for. 

But  unemployment  was  common,  the  cost  of  living  high, 
and  the  old  charity  of  the  monasteries  and  the  old  support  of 
the  gild  chest  were  no  longer  available.  The  close  personal 
relationship  between  squire  and  peasant  was  beginning 
to  become  attenuated.  An  age  when  everyone  knew  of 
everybody's  business  and  when  the  rich  could  not  be 
unconscious  of  the  existence  of  the  dismal  hovels  in  which 
the  man  who  was  down  was,  with  those  dependent  upon 
him,  dying  by  inches  was  becoming  uncomfortably  aware 
that  though  a  Cecil  could  recommend  that  those  who 
were  physically  able  to  work  and  did  not  should  be  en- 
slaved, wrong  was  rather  suffered  than  committed  by  the 
indigent. 

The  Unemployed 

But  the  age  was  rough  and  coarse.  Parliament  at  first 
seemed  to  see  no  better  way  of  dealing  with  the  problem 
than  by  authorizing  the  infliction  of  savage  punishments 
upon  those  who  were  idle  without  much  considering  the 
cause  of  the  idleness.  It  was  complained  that  idleness  was 
the  root  of  all  vices,  and  in  1531  it  was  enacted  that  sturdy 
beggars  should  be  thrashed  "  till  the  body  be  bloody." 

Such  repressive  measures  did  not  meet  the  case,  and 
under  Elizabeth  we  find  the  State  pursuing  two  connected 
courses.  On  the  one  hand,  the  out-of-work  is  driven 
back  to  his  or  her  parish,  there  to  be  set  at  work  either  by 
work  being  found  or  in  a  house  of  correction,  or  by  labour 
in  gaol;  on  the  other  hand,  private  charity  is  at  first 
122 


POVERTY 

organized  for  the  benefit  of  the  destitute,  and  finally, 
private  charity  proving  insufficient,  a  system  of  State  aid 
is  developed. 

The  39  EHz.,  c.  4  (1597-8),  "An  Act  for  punish- 
ment of  rogues,  vagabonds,  and  sturdy  beggars,"  some- 
what extended  by  the  i  Jac.  I,  c.  7  (1603-4),  may  be 
regarded  as  a  consolidating  and  amending  Act  dealing 
with  the  out-of-work — for  it  may  be  observed  that  the 
person  punished  need  not  be  a  rogue  or  a  vagabond,  or 
sturdy,  or  a  beggar  in  the  ordinary  sense,  but  only  as  so 
defined  by  the  Act.  A  person  might  be  punished  as  a  rogue, 
etc.,  because  he  or  she  departed  from  the  parish  in  which 
he  or  she  had  lived  in  order  to  obtain  work  elsewhere. 

All  wandering  persons  and  common  labourers  being  persons 
able  in  body  using  loitering  and  refusing  to  work  for  such  reason- 
able wages  as  is  taxed  or  commonly  given  in  such  parts  where 
such  persons  do  or  shall  happen  to  dwell  or  abide,  not  having 
living  otherwise  to  maintain  themselves,  .  .  .  shall  be  taken, 
adjudged,  and  deemed  Rogues,  Vagabonds,  and  Sturdy  Beggars  and 
shall  sustain  such  pain  and  punishment  as  by  this  Act  is  in  that 
behalf  appointed. 

The  aforesaid  "pain  and  punishment"  is  provided  by 
the  following  section  of  the  Act,  which  also  expresses  the 
general  purpose  of  the  legislature. 

And  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  every 
person  which  is  by  this  present  Act  declared  to  be  a  Rogue, 
Vagabond,  or  Sturdy  Beggar,  which  shall  be  .  .  .  taken  begging, 
vagrant,  wandering,  or  misordering  in  any  part  of  this  realm  .  .  . 
shall  ...  be  stripped  naked  from  the  middle  upward  and  shall 
be  openly  whipped  until  his  or  her  body  be  bloody,  and  shall  be 
forthwith  sent  from  Parish  to  Parish  by  the  officers  of  every  the 
same,  the  next  straightway  to  the  Parish  where  he  was  born,  if 
the  same  may  be  known  by  the  party's  confession  or  otherwise  ; 
and  if  the  same  be  not  known,  then  to  the  Parish  where  he  or  she 
last  dwelt  before  the  same  punishment  by  the  space  of  one  whole 
year,  there  to  put  him  or  her  self  to  labour  as  a  true  subject  ought 
to  do.  .  .  .  And  the  party  so  whipped  and  not  known  where  he 
or  she  was  born  or  last  dwelt  by  the  space  of  a  year,  shall  by  the 

123 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

officers  of  the  said  village  where  he  or  she  so  last  past  through 
without  punishment,  be  conveyed  to  the  House  of  Correction 
of  the  limit  wherein  the  said  village  standeth,  or  to  the  common 
gaol  of  that  County  or  Place,  there  to  remain  and  be  employed 
in  work  until  he  or  she  shall  be  placed  in  some  service,  and  so 
continue  by  the  space  of  one  year,  or  not  being  able  of  body 
until  he  or  she  shall  be  placed,  to  remain  in  some  almshouse  in 
the  same  County  or  Place. 

The  migrating  labourer  who  was  not  in  employment 
was  thus  dealt  with.  He,  and  it  may  be  his  wife  and  his 
children — for  the  Act  punished  also  children  of  the  age 
of  seven  years  or  upward  in  the  same  manner — were 
driven  back  either  to  their  parish  of  origin  or  to  the  parish 
in  which  they  had  lived  for  a  year,  or  to  the  parish  through 
which  they  had  last  passed  without  being  punished,  there 
to  be  set  at  work  for  a  year,  or  if  too  ill  (despite  their  sturdi- 
ness  !)  to  work  until  a  place  in  an  almshouse  was  found  for 
them. 

Even  the  sick  were  not,  in  certain  circumstances,  per- 
mitted to  travel,  for  by  Section  7  it  was  provided  that: 

No  diseased  or  impotent  poor  person  shall  at  any  time  resort 
or  repair  from  their  dwelling  place  to  the  City  of  Bath  or  town 
of  Buxton  ...  to  the  baths  there  for  the  ease  of  their  grief 
unless  such  persons  forbear  to  beg,  and  be  licensed  to  pass  thither 
by  two  Justices  of  the  Peace  of  the  county  where  such  person 
doth  or  shall  then  dwell  or  remain  and  provided  for  to  travel  with 
such  relief  for  and  towards  his  or  her  maintenance  as  shall  be 
necessary  for  the  same  person  .  .  .  upon  pain  to  be  reported, 
punished,  and  used  as  rogues,  vagabonds,  and  sturdy  beggars. 

The   Destitute 

Idleness  having  thus  been  struck  at,  the  State  proceeded 
to  develop  machinery  to  support  in  some  degree  the  desti- 
tute. The  private  charity  which  had  been  the  centre  of 
the  system  designed  in  former  reigns  had  broken  down. 
The  need  for  charity  was  great.  The  State  decided, 
therefore,  at  first  to  organize  private  charity  and  later  to 
elaborate  a  system  of  public  charity.  At  the  same  time, 
under  the  Poor  Law  system  as  finally  established  in  the 
124 


POVERTY 

reign  of  Elizabeth,  some  machinery  was  devised  to  prevent 
the  evil  for  which  charity  was  but  a  partial  palliative. 

The  Poor  Law 

At  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Edward  VI  two  collectors 
had  been  appointed  in  every  parish  for  the  purpose  of 
visiting  the  persons  of  substance  in  the  parish  with  a  view 
to  ascertaining  what  contribution  might  be  expected  from 
each  of  such  persons  for  the  relief  of  the  poor  of  the  parish. 
The  collectors  were  empowered  to  find  employment  for 
the  poor  at  the  charge  of  the  fund  thus  collected.  In 
Mary's  reign  the  Act  was  renewed,  and  soon  after  Eliza- 
beth ascended  the  throne  an  Act  was  passed  providing  that 
if  the  private  person  appealed  to  failed  to  subscribe  the 
justices  might  demand  from  him  a  weekly  contribution 
under  threat  of  imprisonment.  Almost  simultaneously  the 
question  of  apprenticeship  and  the  fixing  of  wages  was  the 
subject  of  legislation. 

As  Thorold  Rogers  has  said: 

There  was  only  a  step  from  the  process  under  which  a 
reluctant  subscriber  to  the  Poor  Law  was  assessed  by  the  justices 
and  imprisoned  on  refusal,  to  the  assessment  of  all  property  under 
the  celebrated  Act  of  43  and  44  Elizabeth,  c.  2.  The  law  had 
provided  for  the  regular  appointment  of  assessors  for  the  levy  of 
rates,  for  supplying  work  to  the  able-bodied,  for  giving  relief  to 
'  the  infirm  and  old,  and  for  binding  apprentices.  It  now  con- 
solidates the  experience  of  the  whole  reign,  defines  the  kind  of 
property  on  which  the  rate  is  to  be  levied,  prescribes  the  manner 
in  which  the  assessors  shall  be  appointed,  and  inflicts  penalties 
on  parties  who  infringe  its  provisions.  It  is  singular  that  the 
Act  was  only  temporary.  It  was,  by  the  last  clause,  only  to 
continue  to  the  end  of  the  next  session  of  Parliament.  It  was, 
however,  renewed,  and  finally  made  perpetual  by  16  Car.  I,  c.  4.^ 

The  Elizabethan  Poor  Law 

The  celebrated  Act  is  short  and  its  important  clauses 
may  usefully  be  reproduced  in  extenso.  They  run  as 
follows  : 

1  Six  Centuries  of  Work  and  Wages. 

125 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  authority  of  this  present  parliament  that 
the  churchwardens  of  every  parish  and  four,  three,  or  two  sub- 
stantial householders  there  as  shall  be  thought  meet,  having 
respect  to  the  apportion  and  greatness  of  the  same  parish  or 
parishes,  to  be  nominated  yearly  in  Easter  week  or  within  one 
month  after  Easter,  under  the  hand  and  seal  of  two  or  more 
justices  of  peace  in  the  same  county,  whereof  one  to  be  of  the 
quorum,  dwelling  in  or  near  the  same  parish  or  division  where 
the  same  parish  doth  lie,  shall  be  called  overseers  of  the  poor  of 
the  same  parish  ;  and  they  or  the  greater  part  of  them  shall  take 
order  from  time  to  time,  by  and  with  the  consent  of  two  or  more 
such  justices  of  peace  as  is  aforesaid,  for  setting  to  work  of 
children  of  all  such  whose  parents  shall  not  by  the  said  church- 
wardens and  overseers  or  the  greater  part  of  them  be  thought 
able  to  maintain  or  keep  their  children  ;  and  also  for  setting  to 
work  all  such  persons  married  or  unmarried  having  no  means 
to  maintain  them,  use  no  ordinary  and  daily  trade  of  life  to  get 
their  living  by  ;  and  also  to  raise  weekly  or  otherwise,  by  taxation 
of  every  inhabitant  parson,  vicar  or  other,  and  of  every  occupier 
of  lands,  houses,  tythes  impropriate  or  propriation  of  tythes, 
coal-mines  or  saleable  underwoods,  in  the  said  parish,  in  such 
competent  sum  or  sums  of  money  as  they  shall  think  fit,  a  con- 
venient stock  of  flax,  hemp,  wool,  thread,  iron  and  other  necessary 
ware  and  stuff  to  set  the  poor  on  work  and  also  competent  sums 
of  money  for  and  toward  the  necessary  relief  of  the  lame,  impotent, 
old,  blind,  and  such  other  among  them  being  poor  and  not  able 
to  work,  and  also  for  the  putting  out  of  such  children  to  be 
apprentices,  to  be  gathered  out  of  the  same  parish  according  to 
the  ability  of  the  same  parish  ;  and  to  do  and  execute  all  other 
things  as  well  for  the  disposing  of  the  said  stock  as  otherwise 
concerning  the  premises  as  to  them  shall  seem  convenient  :  which 
said  churchwardens  and  overseers  so  to  be  nominated,  or  such 
of  them  as  shall  not  be  let  by  sickness  or  other  just  excuse  to  be 
allowed  by  two  such  justices  of  peace  or  more  as  aforesaid,  shall 
meet  together  at  the  least  once  every  month  in  the  church  of 
the  said  parish,  upon  the  Sunday  in  the  afternoon  after  Divine 
Service,  there  to  consider  of  some  good  course  to  be  taken  and  of 
some  meet  order  to  be  set  down  in  the  premises,  and  shall  within 
four  days  after  the  end  of  their  year  and  after  other  overseers 
nominated  as  aforesaid,  make  and  yield  up  to  such  two  justices 
of  peace  as  is  aforesaid  a  true  and  perfect  account  of  all  sums  of 
money  by  them  received  or  rated  and  assessed  and  not  received, 
126 


POVERTY 

and  also  of  such  stock  as  shall  be  in  their  hands  or  in  the  hands 
of  any  of  the  poor  to  work,  and  of  all  other  things  concerning 
their  said  office  ;  and  such  sum  or  sums  of  money  as  shall  be 
in  their  hands  shall  pay  and  deliver  over  to  the  said  churchwardens 
and  overseers  newly  nominated  and  appointed  as  aforesaid  ; 

And  be  it  further  enacted  that  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  said 
churchwardens  and  overseers,  or  the  greater  part  of  them,  by 
the  assent  of  any  two  justices  of  the  peace  aforesaid,  to  bind  any 
such  children  as  aforesaid  to  be  apprentices,  where  they  shall 
see  convenient,  till  such  man-child  shall  come  to  the  age  of 
four  and  twenty  years,  and  such  woman-child  to  the  age  of 
one  and  twenty  years  or  the  time  of  her  marriage  ;  the  same 
to  be  as  effectual  to  all  purposes  as  if  such  child  were  of  full  age, 
and  by  indenture  of  covenant  bound  him  or  herself.  And  the 
said  justices  of  peace  or  any  of  them  to  send  to  the  house  of  correc- 
tion or  common  gaol  such  as  shall  not  employ  themselves  to  work, 
being  appointed  thereunto  as  aforesaid. 

Settlements 

Thus  was  inaugurated  a  system  of  poor  relief  which 
continued  without  substantial  modification  until  the  reign 
of  William  IV  and  has  had  a  direct  effect  on  Poor  Law 
administration  even  to  our  own  day.  The  purpose  of  the 
framers  of  the  Act  was  undoubtedly  humane  and  was 
certainly  in  advance  of  anything  hitherto  enacted.  Relief 
was  made  local  and  the  district  in  which  the  person  had 
declined  into  a  state  of  destitution  was  made  primarily 
responsible  for  his  relief.  The  Act,  however,  was  in- 
efficiently administered.  Some  parishes  treated  their  poor 
in  a  far  better  manfier  than  others.  Means  were  found 
by  the  industrious  poor  of  migrating  into  those  parishes, 
which  thus  had  imposed  upon  them  an  unfair  burden. 
As  a  consequence,  parishes  seem  to  have  vied  with  one 
another  how  best  to  frighten  away  these  unwanted  in- 
habitants; as  a  further  consequence  the  14  Car.  II, 
c.  12,  was  passed  in  1662  empowering  the  removal  of  any 
person  whom  the  churchwardens  or  overseers  complained 
might  become  chargeable  on  the  parish,  if  such  complaint 

127 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

was  made  within  forty  days  of  the  person  coming  to  live 
in  the  parish.  The  removal  was  effected  under  the 
authority  of  a  warrant  issued  by  two  justices  and  was  to 
the  parish  where  the  person  was  born  or  had  last  resided 
for  forty  days.  The  law  of  settlements  thus  begun  still 
occupies  an  important  place  in  Poor  Law  administration. 

Administrative  Abuses 

The  original  purpose  of  the  Act  was  destined  to  be 
hopelessly  destroyed  by  the  mismanagement  of  the  over- 
seers.    As  Lord  Farnborough  said  : 

Since  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  law  had  provided  for  the  relief 
of  the  destitute  poor  of  England.  This  wise  and  simple  provi- 
sion, however,  had  been  so  perverted  by  ignorant  adminis- 
tration that,  in  relieving  the  poor,  the  industrial  population  of 
the  whole  country  was  being  rapidly  reduced  to  pauperism,  while 
property  was  threatened  with  no  distant  ruin.  The  system  which 
was  working  this  mischief  assumed  to  be  founded  upon  bene- 
volence ;  but  no  evil  genius  could  have  designed  a  scheme  of 
greater  malignity  for  the  corruption  of  the  human  race.  The 
fund  intended  for  the  relief  of  want  and  sickness — of  age  and 
impotence — was  recklessly  distributed  to  all  who  begged  a  share. 
Everyone  was  taught  to  look  to  the  parish,  and  not  to  his  own 
honest  industry,  for  support.  The  idle  clown,  without  work, 
fared  as  well  as  the  industrious  labourer  who  toiled  from  morn 
till  night.  The  shameless  slut,  with  half  a  dozen  children — 
the  progeny  of  many  fathers — was  provided  for  as  liberally  as 
the  destitute  widow  and  her  orphans.  But  worse  than  this — 
independent  labourers  were  tempted  and  seduced  into  the  degraded 
ranks  of  pauperism,  by  payments  freely  made  in  aid  of  wages. 
.  .  .  The  manly  farm  labourer  who  scorned  to  ask  for  alms 
found  his  own  wages  artificially  lowered,  while  improvidence  was 
cherished  and  rewarded  by  the  parish. ^ 

Attempts  were  made  from  time  to  time  to  improve  the 
administration  of  the  law.  In  1723  the  churchwardens 
and  overseers,  in  conjunction  with  the  vestry,  were  given 
powers  enabling  them  to  establish  workhouses;  in  1782, 

*  Constitutional  History  of  England  (T.  Erskine  May). 
128 


POVERTY 

by  Gilbert's  Act,  districts  were  permitted  to  appoint  Poor 
Law  guardians  in  place  of  the  overseers,  and  in  1 8 1 9,  by 
which  time  the  number  of  persons  in  receipt  of  Poor  Law 
relief  was  becoming  a  national  danger,  the  overseers  were 
placed,  in  such  parishes  as  cared  to  adopt  the  scheme, 
under  the  direction  and  control  of  a  body  of  substantial 
householders  termed  the  select  vestry. 

Both  the  Act  of  1782  and  the  Act  of  18 19  were,  how- 
ever, permissive  Acts,  and  the  schemes  contained  in  them 
had  only  been  put  into  force  in  a  comparatively  few 
districts;  the  evils  of  the  whole  system  were  becoming 
more  and  more  evident  and  pronounced  under  the  distress 
consequent  upon  the  Napoleonic  wars  and  the  Agrarian 
and  Industrial  Revolutions  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
in  1833  a  Royal  Commission  was  appointed  to  consider  the 
whole  subject. 

Pauperization 

The  report  of  this  Commission  was  a  masterly  ex- 
posure of  the  evils  of  a  system  caused  by  an  initial  wrong, 
benevolently  conceived,  and  monstrously  maladministered. 
We  cannot  refrain  from  certain  quotations  which  indicate 
some  of  the  many  abuses  that  had  grown  up,  though  it 
should  be  understood  that  we  are  now  speaking  of  things 
as  they  were,  not  in  the  time  of  the  Tudors,  but  in  the 
opening  years  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Thus  Mr  Hickson,  a  manufacturer  of  Northampton 
and  landholder  in  Kent,  gave  evidence  as  follows  : 

The  case  of  a  man  who  worked  for  me  will  show  the  effect 
of  the  parish  system  in  preventing  frugal  habits.  This  is  a  hard- 
working, industrious  man,  named  William  Williams.  He  is 
married,  and  had  saved  some  money,  to  the  amount  of  about 
£']0y  and  had  two  cows  ;  he  had  also  a  sow  and  ten  pigs.  He 
had  got  a  cottage  well  furnished  ;  he  was  a  member  of  a  benefit 
club  at  Meopham,  from  which  he  received  eight  shillings  a  week 
when  he  was  ill.  He  was  beginning  to  learn  to  read  and  write, 
and  sent  his  children  to  the  Sunday  School.  He  had  a  legacy 
of  about  £i\.6,  but  he  got  his  other  money  together  by  saving  from 

I  129 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

his  fair  wages  as  a  waggoner.  Some  circumstances  occurred 
which  obHged  me  to  part  with  him.  The  consequence  of  this 
labouring  man  having  been  frugal  and  saved  money,  and  got  the 
cows,  was  that  no  one  would  employ  him,  although  his  superior 
character  as  a  workman  was  well  known  in  the  parish.  He  told 
me  at  the  time  I  was  obliged  to  part  with  him,  "Whilst  I  have 
these  things,  I  shall  get  no  work  ;  I  must  part  with  them  all  ; 
I  must  be  reduced  to  a  state  of  beggary  before  anyone  will  employ 
me."  I  was  compelled  to  part  with  him  at  Michaelmas  ;  he 
has  not  yet  got  work,  and  he  has  no  chance  of  getting  any  until 
he  has  become  a  pauper  ;  for  until  then,  the  paupers  will  be 
preferred  to  him.  He  cannot  get  work  in  his  own  parish,  and 
he  will  not  be  allowed  to  get  any  in  other  parishes. 

Again,  Mr  Nash  of  Royston  stated  that  he  had  been 
forced  by  the  overseer  to  dismiss  two  excellent  labourers 
for  the  purpose  of  introducing  two  paupers  into  their 
place.     Mr  Nash  added  : 

John  Walford,  a  parishioner  of  Burley,  was  a  steady,  industrious, 
trustworthy,  single  man,  who,  by  long  and  rigid  economy,  had 
saved  about  ;^ioo.  On  being  dismissed,  Walford  applied  in  vain 
to  the  farmers  of  Burley  for  employment.  It  was  well  known 
that  he  had  saved  money  and  could  not  come  on  the  parish, 
although  any  of  them  would  willingly  have  taken  him  had  it 
been  otherwise.  .  .  .  The  young  men  point  at  Walford  [who  had 
been  driven  to  spend  his  earnings  on  a  horse  and  cart  and  was 
endeavouring  to  earn  a  precarious  living  as  a  carter  of  corn  to 
London]  and  call  him  a  fool  for  not  spending  his  money  at  the 
public  house  as  they  do,  adding  that  then  he  would  get  work. 

The   reason    for   this   extraordinary   state   of  affairs   is 
brought  out  in  the  evidence  of  Sir  Harry  Verney,  who  says : 

In  the  hundred  of  Buckingham,  in  which  I  act  as  a  magistrate, 
many  instances  occur  in  which  labourers  are  unable  to  obtain 
employment,  because  they  have  property  of  their  own.  For 
instance,  in  the  parish  of  Steeple  Claydon,  John  Lines,  formerly 
a  soldier,  a  very  good  workman,  is  refused  employment  because 
he  receives  a  pension.  The  farmers  say  that  they  cannot  afford 
■■    to  employ  those  for  whom  they  are  not  bound  by  law  to  provide?- 

^  Our  italics. 
130 


POVERTY 

Such  cases  of  ratepayers  conspiring  (to  use  the  word 
employed  by  the  Commissioners)  to  deny  the  man  who 
in  defiance  of  the  examples  of  all  around  him,  dares 
to  save,  and  attempts  to  keep  his  savings,  the  permission 
to  work  for  his  bread  were  not  universal,  but  were  wide- 
spread and  common  to  those  parishes  which  by  the  opening 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century  had  become  pauperized. 

The  Allowance  System 

In  consequence  of  the  system  which  had  grown  up  under 
the  Poor  Law  administration  of  paying  different  rates  of 
wages  to  married  and  single  men  equally  skilled,  early  and 
improvident  marriages  were  rendered  almost  compulsory. 
A  clergyman  of  Culworth  stated  that  one  of  his  parishioners 
had  told  him  that  he  only  married  because  under  the 
labour  rate  he  could  not  get  work  without.  The  parish 
relief,  which  was  scattered  broadcast — in  Cholesbury,  to 
give  but  one  example  of  many,  out  of  139  individuals, 
only  35  persons,  of  all  ages,  including  the  clergyman  and 
his  family,  were  supported  by  their  own  exertions — was 
necessitated  mainly  by  the  maladministration  of  the 
whole  system.  Such  relief,  being  in  the  majority  of  cases 
unneeded,  corrupted  those  who  received  it,  each  one  of 
whom  tended  to  become  "  converted  into  an  insolent, 
discontented,  surly,  thoughtless  pauper,  who  talks  of  rights 
and  income.  .  .  ."     Of  such  a  one  it  was  said  : 

Some  rude  efforts  he  may  at  first  make  to  shake  off  his  state  of 
servitude  ;  but  he  finally  yields  to  the  temptation  of  the  allow- 
ance payable  and  the  scale,  feels  his  bondage,  puts  off  his  generous 
feelings  of  industry  and  gratitude  and  independence,  and 

...  to  suit 
His  maimer  with  his  fate,  puts  on  the  brute. 

Under  the  allowance  system  wages  were  fixed  according 
to  whether  a  man  was  married  and  to  the  number  of  his 
children.  It  mattered  not  in  the  least  what  he  was 
worth.     The  original  economic  evils  of  serfdom  were  thus 

131 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

recreated   and    even    extended.     As    the    Commissioners 
inquire : 

What  motive  has  the  man  who  is  to  receive  ten  shilHngs  every 
Saturday,  not  because  ten  shillings  is  the  value  of  his  week's 
labour,  but  because  his  family  consists  of  five  persons,  who 
knows  that  his  income  will  be  increased  by  nothing  but  by  an 
increase  of  his  family,  and  diminished  by  nothing  but  by  a 
diminution  of  his  family,  that  it  has  no  reference  to  his  skill,  his 
honesty,  or  his  diligence — what  motive  has  he  to  acquire  or  to 
preserve  any  of  these  merits  ? 

The  Workhouse 

The  evils  of  outdoor  relief  were  matched,  or  more  than 
matched,  by  the  maladministration  of  the  workhouses. 
The  *  poor-house  '  had  become,  indeed,  a  sort  of  alms- 
house packed  with  three  distinct  classes  of  people:  (i) 
the  respectable  old  and  infirm  poor;  (2)  children,  mainly 
orphans;  (3)  criminals,  prostitutes,  and  such  other  able- 
bodied  folk  as,  having  lost  self-respect,  preferred  a  life  of 
laziness  to  a  life  of  industry.  The  result  was  that 
respectable  people  deemed  it  the  most  dreadful  of  mis- 
fortunes, as  meaning  the  loss  of  character  and  self-respect, 
to  have  to  seek  refuge  in  the  workhouse,  even  though,  to 
quote  Mr  Lee,  "  It  is  a  common  remark  among  our 
paupers  that  they  live  better  in  the  house  than  they  ever 
lived  before."  One  can  easily  imagine  the  horrid  thoughts 
that  must  have  assailed  the  dying  on  the  contemplation 
of  the  future  of  their  children — orphans  brought  up  in 
the  workhouse,  farmed  out  to  contractors,  apprenticed,  or, 
rather,  we  would  say,  let  on  lease,  to  a  master;  the  com- 
panions of  the  lowest,  the  encumbrance  of  their  parish, 
the  drudge  of  their  employer. 

The  Commissioners  made  twenty-two  recommendations, 
to  none  of  which  can  we  refer  in  detail,  but  all  of  which 
formed  the  basis  of  the  new  Poor  Law,  the  purpose  of  which 
was,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Act  of  Elizabeth,  to  grant  relief 
to  the  destitute  and  to  differentiate  between  the  man  who 
had  become  indigent  through  no  fault  of  his  own  and  the 
132 


POVERTY 

man  whose  poverty  was  merely  a  mask  put  on  to  avoid 
work.  The  administration  was  placed  under  Boards  of 
Guardians,  subject  to  the  control  of  a  central  board.  Out- 
door relief  for  the  able-bodied  ceased ;  large  *  union  ' 
workhouses  were  established  and  regulated  in  a  much 
more  rigorous  manner.  The  new  system  was  not  without 
its  defects,  but  it  did  at  least  slay  that  *'  plague  of 
pauperism  "  which  was  threatening  to  sap  the  self- 
respect  of  large  sections  of  the  working  people. 

Certain  changes  were  found  necessary  as  time  passed. 
The  Poor  Law  Commissioners  became  in  turn  the  Poor 
Law  Board  and  the  nucleus  of  the  Local  Government 
Board,  which  was  established  in  1871,  and  in  turn  became 
the  Ministry  of  Health  in  191 9.  In  1905  another  Royal 
Commission  sat  to  inquire  into  two  matters:  (i)  the 
administration  of  the  Poor  Law  and  (2)  the  relief  of 
distress  due  to  poverty  and  unemployment.  The  results 
of  its  labours  were  the  passing  of  the  Unemployed  Work- 
men Act,  1906,  and  the  Labour  Exchanges  Act,  1909  ; 
while  the  movement  toward  the  adequate  care  and  pro- 
tection of  those  who  may  fall  by  the  wayside  through  old 
age,  sickness,  or  accident,  and  which  has  made  such  giant 
strides  during  the  last  three  decades,  has  placed  upon  the 
Statute  Book,  among  others,  the  following  Acts :  the  Work- 
men's Compensation  Acts,  1897,  1906,  1917,  1919;  the 
Old  Age  Pensions  Acts,  1908,  191 1;  and  the  various 
National  Insurance  Acts.  All  these  we  shall  have  occasion 
hereafter  to  refer  to. 


133 


CHAPTER  VI 

A   MEDIEVAL    PERIOD 

THE  word  medieval  has  many  connotations.  As 
applied  to  political  history  it  sometimes  means  pre- 
Norman  times,  sometimes  the  era  of  the  First 
Renaissance,  and  sometimes  the  period  which  stretches  from 
Plantagenet  to  Tudor  times.  In  the  case  of  a  history  of 
labour  it  can  be  used  conveniently  to  describe  the  period 
which  stretches  between  that  early  age  in  which  the 
generality  of  men  were  personally  unfree  and  the  later 
age  which  saw  the  divorce  of  the  people  from  the  land 
and  the  rise  of  the  factory  system. 

We  shall  thus  in  this  chapter  be  concerned  chiefly 
with  husbandmen  and  artificers;  peasants  who  besides 
tilHng  and  sowing  and  reaping  turned  an  occasional 
hand  to  the  loom;  craftsmen  who  were  continuing  in 
the  spirit  of  the  gildsmen;  rogues  and  vagabonds  that 
represent  the  submerged  tenth  of  the  newly-freed  labour- 
ing classes. 

The  decrease  of  villeinage,  which  by  the  end  of  the 
Tudor  period  was  almost  extinct,  was  the  era  of  the  origin 
of  the  poor.  Serfdom  at  least  supplied  the  serf  with 
food  and  shelter;  the  greater  freedom  which  emancipation 
brought  might  easily,  and  did  in  fact  often,  result  in  the 
absence  both  of  shelter  and  of  food,  pointing  the  truth  of 
that  old  aphorism:  "  Freedom  and  servitude,  the  one  has 
many  pains,  the  other  no  pleasures." 

Throughout  the  whole  of  this  medieval  period,  an  era 
stretching,  as  it  does,  almost  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  most  notable  facts  about  the  lives  of  the 
working  classes  were  the  complete  simplicity  and  unevent- 
fulness    which,    in    the    happiest    circumstances,    marked 


A    MEDIEVAL    PERIOD 

them,  and  the  terrible  condition  which  might  befall  the 
most  worthy  should  misfortune  chance  to  throw  them  off 
the  narrow  path  their  kind  commonly  trod.  It  is,  indeed, 
a  matter  of  some  difficulty  fully  to  comprehend  the  fru- 
gality, the  rusticity,  the  simplicity  of  those  times,  or  the 
severity  with  which  those,  to-day  deemed  the  unfortunate, 
were  treated  who  fell  into  indigence  through  illness  or 
lack  of  employment. 

Material  Resources 

A  few  comparisons  will  enable  us  to  realize  the  im- 
mense difference  which  exists  between  the  material  re- 
sources of  the  people  of  the  fourteenth  and  the  twentieth 
centuries. 

In  the  early  Middle  Ages  Colchester  was  a  considerable 
town  of  3000  inhabitants,  and  was  the  tenth  city  of  England. 
Roughly  speaking,  its  inhabitants  amounted  to  a  one- 
thousandth  part  of  the  entire  population.  In  1296  a 
valuation  for  taxation  purposes  was  made,  and  in  13 17 
another  valuation  was  made.  These  valuation  rolls  were 
examined  in  some  detail  by  Sir  Frederick  Eden,  who  gives 
the  following  as  the  average  contents  of  a  house  : 


s.  d. 


s.    d. 


A  mazer-cup 

valued 

at  from 

6     to    2   0 

Abed 

j> 

>> 

I 

6     „     6   8 

A  tripod 

3     „         9 

A  brass  pot 

I 

0     „     2   6 

A  brass  cup 

6     „     I   0 

An  andiron 

3h   »          8 

A  brass  dish 

6     „     I   0 

A  gridiron  . 

6     „     I   6 

A  rug  or  coverlet 

8     „     I   6 

Total 

• 

5 

^  „   17  7 

The  above  represented  the  furniture  not  of  a  rustic  boor, 
but  of  a  citizen,  and  evidences  a  complete  absence  of 
luxury.  The  same  simplicity  is  shown  by  the  valuations 
of  two  draper's  shops,  one  of  which  was  large  and  the  other 

135 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

small.     The  contents  of  the  latter  were  valued  at   6s.  Sd. 
The  larger  shop  contained  the  following  articles : 

£  s.  d. 

A  piece  of  woollen  cloth  .         .  value  7   o 

Silk  and  fine  linen     .  .          •  „  100 

Flannel,  and  silk  purses  .         •  ,1  140 

Gloves,    girdles,  leather  purses, 

and  needle-work    .  .          •  ,,  6   8 

Other  small  things    .  .         .  „  30 


Total     .  .£308 


A  carpenter's  stock  of  tools  was  valued  at  is.,  and  com- 
prised two  broad  axes,  an  adze,  a  square,  an  auger  (navegor 
or  nawger).  The  entire  movable  wealth  of  the  city,  in- 
cluding household  furniture  and  utensils,  clothes,  money, 
provisions,  the  stock-in-trade  of  all  the  tradesmen,  the  live- 
stock kept  by  the  citizens,  and  frequently  including  a  pig  or 
two  and  sometimes  a  horse,  was  valued  at  ;/^5i8  i6s.  o^d. 

Of  course,  in  those  days  the  value  of  money  was  ver)' 
different  from  what  it  is  to-day.  Even  allowing  £1  then 
to  be  worth  ;^ioo  now  (and  economists  set  a  much  lower 
modern  equivalent),  the  value  of  the  movables  of  Colchester 
was  about  ;/^52,ooo  of  modern  money,  which  gives  as  the 
total  wealth  of  England  in  movable  property  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fourteenth  century  the  sum  of  ^{52, 000,000 
of  modern  money. 

Population 

With  these  figures  it  is  useful  to  bear  in  mind  the  number 
of  people  in  England.  It  will  also  be  instructive  to  give 
Gregory  King's  forecast  of  the  population  of  England 
which  he  made  in  1693,  and  compare  his  forecast  with 
the  actual  figures.  The  question  of  population  is  one 
of  great  importance,  for  it  is  manifest  that  many  schemes 
or  aims  which  would  be  workable  and  desirable  in  a 
comparatively  thinly  populated  country  are  absolutely  out 
of  the  question  in  a  country  so  densely  peopled  as  Great 
Britain  now  is. 
136 


A    MEDIEVAL    PERIOD 

Gregory    King's    figures    stating    and    forecasting    the 
population,  and  the  actual  figures,  are  as  follows : 


Date 

King's 

Figures        Actual  Figures 

" 

^  ' 

1300 

2,860,000 

1400 

3,300,000 

1500 

3,840,000 

1600 

4,620,000 

1700 

5,550,000 

5,475,000 

1800 

6,420,000 

9,168,000 

1900 

7,350,000 

32,527,000 

2000 

8,280,000 

The  State  of  Agriculture 

The  reigns  of  the  first  three  Edwards,  and  particularly 
that  of  Edward  I,  saw  a  considerable  increase  in  prosperity 
and  distributed  wealth.  But  as  yet  the  only  important 
source  of  national  wealth  was  the  land,  and  the  science  of 
agriculture  was  so  little  understood  that  a  crop  of  from 
six  to  twelve  bushels  of  cereals  per  acre  was  normal.  While 
such  a  low  productivity  continued  in  the  industry  which 
supported  nine-tenths  of  the  people,  it  could  not  but  be 
that  the  lives  of  the  people  were  frugal  in  the  extreme. 
To  apply  words  spoken  of  the  mid-eighteenth  century  to 
the  workers  of  the  whole  of  this  medieval  period  we  may 
say  that : 

The  domestic  manufacturers  were  scattered  over  the  entire 
surface  of  the  country.  Themselves  cultivators  and  of  simple 
habits  and  few  wants,  they  rarely  left  their  own  homesteads. 
...  If  the  comfort  of  the  poor  man  is  to  be  estimated  by  variety 
of  wants,  by  his  living  in  an  artificial  state  of  society,  surrounded 
by  all  the  inventions  resulting  from  a  high  degree  of  civilisation, 
by  having  these  brought  to  his  door,  and  every  facility  afforded 
him  for  procuring  them,  the  aboriginal  and  home  manufacturer 
sinks  very  low  when  compared  with  the  present  race.  If,  on 
the  contrary,  comfort  and  domestic  happiness  are  to  be  judged 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

by  the  fewness  of  a  man's  wants,  with  the  capability  of  securing 
the  means  for  their  supply,  the  tables  are  turned  in  favour  of 
the  domestic  manufacturer. ^ 

It  would  appear  that  during  the  fourteenth  century 
wealth  so  grew  that  luxury  sensibly  increased,  but  the 
troublous  times  which  almost  extinguished  the  aristocracy 
and  eventually  placed  a  Welsh  prince  upon  the  throne  of 
England  ushered  in  that  period  of  mixed  sunlight  and 
shadow  which  William  Harrison  has  so  minutely  and 
amusingly  described  in  his  Description  of  England} 

The  Poor 

Throughout  the  period  the  law  permitted,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  fixing  of  maximum  wages,  a  device  which  Sir 
Frederick  Eden  regarded  as  "  confessedly  framed  by  the 
nobility,  and,  if  not  intended,  certainly  tending,  to  cramp 
the  exertions  of  industry."  Toward  the  end  of  this  middle 
age  it  is  true  that  the  wage-regulation  laws  were  falling 
into  desuetude,  but  throughout  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries  it  would  appear  that  a  great  pro- 
portion of  the  community  earned  less  than  they  spent. 
Before  the  development  of  the  Poor  Law  the  result  is  seen 
in  the  number  of  rogues  and  vagabonds  who,  declining 
into  theft,  were  hurried  to  the  gallows.  As  Harrison  says, 
throughout  Elizabeth's  reign  the  rogues  "  were  trussed  up 
apace,"  and  he  calculated  that  during  Henry  VIII's  reign 
no  fewer  than  72,000  great  and  petty  thieves  were  put  to 
death.  After  the  institution  of  a  Poor  Law  system  the 
effect  is  shown  in  the  dimensions  of  the  poor  rate,  which 
in  1685  was  equal  to  one-third  of  the  entire  revenue. 
Throughout  both  rogue  and  worker  are  pinned  down  to 
subsist  on  the  barest  fare  and  in  the  simplest  manner,  so 
that  Chamberlayne,  even  as  late  as  1702,  could  repeat  and 
confirm  the  truth  of  the  old  saying  that,  **  England  was 

1  P.  Gaskell,  The  Manufacturing  Population  of  England. 

2  Most  easily  available  in  the  form  as  edited  by  Lothrop  Withrlngton 
and  published  in  the  Camelot  scries  under  the  title  Elizabethan  England. 

138 


A    MEDIEVAL     PERIOD 

called  the  Purgatory  of  servants,  as  it  was  and  is  still  the 
Paradise  of  wives,  and  the  Hell  for  horses." 

The  Worker  and  the  Land 

The  average  worker  throughout  this  middle  age  made 
his  own  clothes,  his  own  shoes,  grew  his  own  food,  kept 
his  own  stock.  He  was  both  husbandman  and  artisan,  or, 
in  the  cities,  artisan  and  allotment-holder.  It  was  but  rarely, 
and  only  in  the  case  of  some  workers  in  London,  that  the 
craftsman  or  manual  worker  was  entirely  divorced  from 
the  land. 

The  first  of  the  movements  which  were  to  result  rather 
more  than  three  centuries  later  in  the  almost  complete 
separation  of  the  workers  from  the  land  had  begun. 
Whereas  at  first  the  serf  cultivator  of  an  earlier  period  had 
turned  for  a  time  into  the  peasant  proprietor,  so  common 
even  to-day  in  France  and  Germany,  it  was  not  long  before 
attacks,  at  first  isolated  and  later  concerted,  began  to 
be  made  on  his  land-holding.  Of  this  movement  we 
speak  elsewhere.  It  is  material  here,  however,  to  observe 
that  the  earlier  enclosures  linked  to  more  scientific  farming 
resulted  in  greater  productivity  per  acre,  greater  wealth 
to  the  larger  farmers  due  to  the  export  trade,  hardly  any 
reduction  in  the  price  of  food,  widespread  unemployment, 
increased  national  wealth,  increased  national  misery  linked 
with  an  absolute  monarchy,  a  decayed  aristocracy,  at  first  a 
feeble  but  later  an  increasingly  powerful  plutocracy,  and 
general  contentment  due  to  the  fact  that  though  many  were 
drowning  the  majority  were  sailing  along  a  placid  stream 
in  much  comfort. 

Food 

Throughout  the  period  bread  was  the  staple  food  and 
beer  or  "  small  drink  "  the  normal  drink  of  the  working 
classes.  In  the  North  oatmeal  was  largely  eaten,  and, 
before  the  later  enclosures  began  to  take  from  the  com- 
moners the  means  of  pasturing  their  cattle  and  to  concen- 
trate the  stock  in  the  hands  of  the  larger  landowners,  milk 

139 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

was  a  very  important  article  of  diet.  It  was  only  toward 
the  end  of  this  period  that  tea,  coffee,  or  cocoa  came 
into  use.  Tea  had  come  to  us  in  the  Tudor  period  as  a 
curiosity,  but  was  becoming  sufficiently  common  in  1658 
for  it  to  be  advertised  in  the  Mercurius  Politicus.  The  first 
coffee-house  was  opened  in  London  in  1652,  and  we  find 
chocolate  being  advertised  as  a  drink  in  1657.  None  of 
these  beverages  was,  however,  within  the  means  of  the 
poor  until  more  than  a  century  later. 

Speaking  of  the  bread  eaten  by  the  workers  in  his  time 
(1577-87),  Harrison  says  that  the  husbandmen 

in  some  shires  are  forced  to  content  themselves  with  rye,  or 
barley,  yea,  and  in  times  of  dearth,  many  with  bread  made  either 
of  beans,  peas,  or  oats,  or  of  all  together  and  some  acorns  among, 
of  which  scourge  the  poorest  do  soonest  taste,  sith  they  are 
least  able  to  provide  themselves  of  better.  I  will  not  say  that 
this  extremity  is  oft  so  well  to  be  seen  in  times  of  plenty  as  of 
dearth,  but,  if  I  should,  I  could  easily  bring  my  trial.  For 
albeit  that  there  be  much  more  ground  eared  now  almost  in 
every  place  than  hath  been  of  late  years,  yet  such  a  price  of  corn 
continueth  in  each  town  and  market  without  any  just  cause 
(except  it  be  that  landlords  do  get  licences  to  carry  corn  out  of 
the  land  only  to  keep  up  the  prices  for  their  own  private  gains 
and  ruin  of  the  commonwealth),  that  the  artificer  and  poor 
labouring  man  is  not  able  to  reach  unto  it,  but  is  driven  to  content 
himself  with  horse  corn — I  mean  beans,  peas,  oats,  tares,  and 
lentils  :  and  therefore  it  is  a  true  proverb  and  never  so  well 
verified  as  now,  that  "  Hunger  setteth  his  first  foot  into  the 
horse-manger." 

According  to  Davenant,  even  a  century  later,  and  with 
a  poor  rate  up  to  a  third  of  the  revenue,  many  died  yearly 
of  starvation.  Harrison,  when  considering  the  times  at 
which  folks  eat,  dismisses  the  case  of  the  poor  by  saying  : 
"  As  for  the  poorest  sort  they  generally  dine  and  sup  when 
they  may,  so  that  to  talk  of  their  order  of  repast  it  were 
but  a  needless  matter." 

When  we  turn  to  other  pages  of  Harrison's  Description 
we  obtain  a  somewhat  different  picture,  a  picture  of  a 
140 


A    MEDIEVAL     PERIOD 

countryside  flowing  with  milk,  and  stocked  with  butter 
and  pork.  What  can  we  say  of  an  age  which  regarded 
**  white  meats,  milk,  butter,  and  cheese  ...  as  food  aper- 
tinent  only  to  the  inferior  sorts,"  and  of  a  writer  who, 
having  lamented  the  fact  that  the  bread  of  the  poor  was  not 
wheaten,  proceeds  to  tell  us  that  : 

The  artificer  and  husbandman  make  greatest  account  of  such 
meat  as  they  may  soonest  come  by,  and  have  it  quickliest  ready, 
except  it  be  in  London  when  the  companies  of  every  trade  do 
meet  on  their  quarter  days,  at  which  time  they  be  nothing  inferior 
to  the  nobility.  Their  food  also  consisteth  principally  in  beef, 
and  such  meat  as  the  butcher  selleth — that  is  to  say,  mutton, 
veal,  lamb,  pork,  etc.,  whereof  he  findeth  great  store  in  the 
markets  adjoining,  besides  sows,  brawn,  bacon,  fruit,  pies  of 
fruit,  eggs,  etc.  ...  In  feasting  also  this  lesser  sort,  I  mean 
the  husbandmen,  do  exceed  often  their  manner,  especially  at 
bridals,  purification  of  women,  and  such  odd  meetings,  where  it 
is  incredible  to  tell  what  meat  is  consumed  and  spent,  each  one 
bringing  such  a  dish,  or  so  many  with  him,  as  his  wife  and  he 
do  consult  upon,  but  always  with  this  consideration,  that  the 
lesser  friend  shall  have  the  better  provision.  This  also  is  commonly 
seen  at  these  banquets,  that  the  good  man  of  the  house  is  not 
charged  with  anything  saving  bread,  drink,  sauce,  house-room, 
and  fire.  But  the  artificers  in  cities  and  good  towns  do  deal 
far  otherwise  ;  for  albeit  that  some  of  them  do  suffer  their 
jaws  to  go  oft  before  their  claws,  and  divers  of  them  by 
making  good  cheer  do  hinder  themselves  and  other  men, 
yet  the  wiser  sort  can  handle  the  matter  well  enough  in  these 
junkettings. 

The  truth,  however,  seems  to  be  that  in  the  normal  case, 
and  throughout  the  whole  middle  period,  the  average 
working  man  lived  very  plainly,  tasted  meat  but  rarely, 
unless  it  were  pork  which  he  had  himself  reared,  and 
relieved  a  diet  of  cereals,  potatoes,  milk,  eggs,  and  vege- 
tables (of  which  then  as  now  he  was  a  somewhat  sparing 
eater,  regarding  many  of  the  daintiest  as  fit  only  for  swine) 
chiefly  with  fish,  usually  herrings. 

That  the  conception  of  the  Tudor  workman  as  a 
mixture  of  Sir  John  Falstaff  and  one  of  Ostade's    boors 

141 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

is   false   may  be   seen    from  yet  another  quotation   from 
Harrison : 

It  may  be  that  divers  of  them  living  at  home,  with  hard  and 
pinching  diet,  small  drink,  and  some  of  them  having  scarce 
enough  of  that,  are  soonest  overtaken  when  they  come  into  such 
banquets  ;  howbeit  they  take  it  generally  as  no  small  disgrace 
if  they  happen  to  be  cupshotten,  so  that  it  is  a  grief  to  them, 
though  now  sans  remedy,  sith  the  thing  is  done  and  past. 

Clothing 

The  clothes  of  the  people  were  not  merely  home-made, 
but  were  made  from  material  that  was  spun  and  woven 
at  home,  often  from  flax  which  was  grown  at  home  or 
from  wool  from  the  sheep  of  the  farm.  By  24  Hen.  VIII, 
c.  4,  every  person  occupying  sixty  acres  was  required  to 
sow  one  rood  with  flax  or  hemp  seed,  and  by  5  Eliz.,  c.  5, 
one  acre  in  every  sixty  had  to  be  so  sown,  the  primary 
purpose  being  to  produce  the  raw  material  on  which  the 
people  might  be  employed  in  spinning  and  weaving  in 
their  homes.  Moryson  has  told  us  that  "  husbandmen 
weare  garments  of  course  cloth  made  at  home,  and  their 
wives  wear  gownes  of  the  same  cloth,  kirtles  [petticoats] 
of  some  light  stuffe  with  linen  aprons,  and  cover  their 
heads  with  a  linnen  coyfe  and  a  high  felt  hat,  and,  in 
generall,  their  linnen  is  course  and  made  at  home."  This 
description,  Eden  says,  was  substantially  accurate  for  the 
North  Country  of  his  own  day — that  is,  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century.     In  Gaskell's  words: 

The  distaff,  the  spinning  wheel,  producing  a  single  thread, 
and  subsequently  the  jenny  and  mule,  were  to  be  found  forming 
a  part  of  the  complement  of  household  furniture  in  the  majority 
of  the  cottage-homes  of  Great  Britain,  whilst  every  hamlet  and 
village  resounded  with  the  clack  of  the  hand-loom, ^ 

Houses 

The  Tudor  period  saw  a  real  advance  in  the  direction  of 
what  may  be  termed  home  comforts.    As  Green  remarked  : 

1  The  Manufacturing  Population  of  England. 
142 


A    MEDIEVAL    PERIOD 

It  is  from  this  period  indeed  that  we  can  first  date  the  rise 
of  a  conception  which  seems  to  us  now  a  peculiarly  English  one, 
the  conception  of  domestic  comfort.  The  chimney-corner,  so 
closely  associated  with  family  life,  came  into  existence  with  the 
general  introduction  of  chimneys,  a  feature  rare  in  ordinary  houses 
at  the  beginning  of  [Elizabeth's]  reign.  Pillows,  which  had 
before  been  despised  by  the  farmer  and  the  trader  as  fit  only  "  for 
women  in  child-bed,"  were  now  in  general  use.  Carpets  super- 
seded the  filthy  flooring  of  rushes.^ 

It  is  difficult  to  determine  to  what  extent  the  new 
comfort  descended  to  the  lower  ranks  of  society,  but 
it  can  be  said  that  domestic  architecture,  even  in  the 
humblest  cases,  greatly  improved.  The  fireplace  became 
a  commonplace.  Floor-boarding  was  usual.  Table  fur- 
niture became  more  elegant,  pewter  or  even  silver  ware 
taking  the  place  of  wooden  trenchers.  The  working 
classes  did  not  yet  use  spoons  and  forks,  but  throughout 
the  seventeenth  century  these  articles  became  more  and 
more  common.  The  rough  earthenware  was  soon  to 
give  way  before  the  newly  invented  glaze.  Glass,  despite 
the  window  taxes,  was  turning  the  hut  or  hovel  into  some- 
thing akin  to  the  cottage  of  to-day.  Furniture,  though 
still  more  noticeable  for  its  strength  than  for  its  beauty, 
was  beginning  to  assume  more  elegant  forms. 

In  the  towns  some  attention  was  at  last  being  given  to 
sanitation.  But  though  we  may  say  with  Mr  and  Mrs 
Hammond  that 

To  the  people  of  Norwich  or  York  in  the  fifteenth  century 
their  town  was  not  a  mere  roof  from  the  wind  and  the  rain  :  it 
was  a  living  personality,  expressing  and  cherishing  the  instincts, 
tastes,  beliefs,  and  corporate  pride  of  the  citizens  widely  and  richly 
pictured,^ 

though  we  may  deplore  the  loss  of  that  old  beauty, 
gathering  in  loveliness  with  age,  which  the  destruction  of 
our  ancient  towns  and  cities  caused,  yet  we  must  recog- 
nize that  the  ancient  town  would  be  impossible  to-day. 
1  Short  History  of  tie  English  People.  ^  The  Town  Labourer. 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Throughout  this  middle  age,  though  as  time  passed  more 
and  more  attention  was  given  to  sanitation,  that  subject 
was  hardly  understood,  and  the  health  of  the  people,  rich 
and  poor  alike,  was  in  this  regard  grossly  neglected. 

It  was  not,  indeed,  until  well  into  the  nineteenth  century 
that  any  properly  organized  system  was  introduced  into 
town-planning,  and  then  for  a  season  the  standard  of  art 
and  taste  was  so  low  that  the  horror  of  the  resulting  barracks 
was  almost  more  terrible  than  the  fevers  or  the  plagues 
which  the  more  beautiful  and  interesting  medieval  towns 
had  engendered. 

We  obtain  a  view  of  the  shocking  conditions  which 
sometimes  existed  from  Dr  V.  A.  Riecke's  observations 
on  the  interments  and  disinterments  of  the  churchyard  of 
St  Innocens,  where  at  a  time  of  plague  from  1500  to 
1600  bodies  had  been  buried  in  a  common  grave  creating 
a  state  of  disease  in  the  surrounding  houses  which  developed 
into  a  pestilence  in  1 554.  Other  disorders  were  also  caused 
by  the  same  cemetery  in  1737  and  1746,  and  in  1780  it 
was  found  that  the  cellars  in  all  the  houses  in  one  of  the 
streets  bordering  on  this  cemetery  were  full  of  noxious 
gases  which  would  not  support  light. 

The  numerous  plagues  which  broke  out  from  time  to 
time  in  the  various  medieval  towns  are  indeed  a  sufficient 
proof  that  those  old  towns,  lovely  though  they  were  to 
look  upon,  were  often  evil  places  in  which  to  live. 

Wages 

Throughout  the  period,  and  even  after  the  great  decrease 
in  the  value  of  money  which  occurred  in  Tudor  times,  wages 
were  very  low,  though  a  substantial  rise  occurred  after 
the  Civil  Wars  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  average 
earnings  of  an  artisan  in  1662  were  but  fifteen  shillings  a 
week.  In  1641  the  wage  of  a  thatcher  was  sixpence  a 
day  with  meals,  but  by  1684  the  wage  of  an  agricultural 
labourer  had  risen  to  a  shilling  a  day,  though  the  justices 
of  Warwickshire  endeavoured  unsuccessfully  to  fix  the 
maximum  at  eightpence  a  day. 
144 


A    MEDIEVAL    PERIOD 

Learning 

Throughout  the  period  of  which  we  now  speak  the 
generahty  of  men  were  entirely  ignorant  of  that  form  of 
knowledge  which  is  derived  from  books.  Their  religion 
was  a  religion  that  they  were  taught  wholly  by  word  of 
mouth.  For  a  large  part  of  the  period  the  Bible  was 
not  to  be  obtained  by  the  vulgar,  and  if  obtainable  was  not 
written  or  printed  in  the  vulgar  tongue.  Until  half  of 
this  middle  age  had  passed  the  Sunday  school  had  not 
yet  been  thought  of.  The  old  gild  schools  and  the  monastic 
centres  of  learning  had  suffered  severely  under  the  Tudors. 
An  age  which  gave  to  us  a  More,  a  Shakespeare,  a  Bacon, 
and  a  Newton  left  the  people  as  illiterate  as  the  Russians 
over  whom  Peter  the  Great  ruled.  But  though  from 
books  they  gained  nothing,  and  from  priests  and  ushers 
but  little,  they  had  still  as  their  natural  tutor  the  country- 
side with  all  its  half-unfolded  wisdom.  The  true  rustic, 
dull  and  boorish  though  he  may  appear  to  those  whose 
eyes  are  blinded  by  the  glitter  of  a  showy  civilization, 
always  had  and  still  has  a  clear  vision  for  the  fundamental 
facts  of  life.  The  picture  that  we  gather  of  these  workers 
from  their  contemporaries  is  that  of  an  unlettered,  rough, 
hard-working,  simple-living.  God-fearing,  clean  and  decent 
people,  who  clung  to  their  little  homes  and  when  misfortune 
befell  to  their  freedom  and  liberty  of  action,  risking  the 
whip,  the  house  of  correction,  and  even  the  gallows  rather 
than  become  the  prey  of  a  grey-faced  charity,  which  was 
all  the  Tudor  and  Stuart  administrators  could  find  to  offer 
to  the  indigent  and  unfortunate. 

The  Spirit  of  the  Poor 

Few  more  noble  struggles  have  been  made  than  those 
which  were  carried  through  to  the  death  by  thousands  of 
humble  folk  who,  unable  to  find  employment  in  their 
native  villages,  were  compelled  to  choose  between  charity 
and  the  search  for  work  in  a  land  that  loathed  and  feared 
vagrants.  Few  more  sorry  stories  can  be  told  than  that 
of   the  way  these  poor  folk  were   treated,  not  by  some 

K  145 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

ruthless  conqueror,  but  by  their  own  more  fortunate 
fellow-countrymen.  We  have  occasion  elsewhere  to  advert 
to  this  matter,  but  in  this  present  place  we  cannot  forbear 
from  a  quotation  from  the  Elizabethan  canon. 

With  us  the  poor  is  commonly  divided  up  into  three  sorts,  so 
that  some  are  poor  by  impotence,  as  the  fatherless  child,  the 
aged,  the  blind,  and  lame,  and  the  diseased  person  that  is  judged 
to  be  incurable  ;  the  second  are  poor  by  casualty,  as  the  wounded 
soldier,  the  decayed  householder,  and  the  sick  person  visited 
with  grievous  and  painful  diseases ;  the  third  consisteth  of  thrift- 
less poor,  as  the  rioter  that  hath  consumed  all,  the  vagabond 
that  will  abide  nowhere,  but  runneth  up  and  down  from  place 
to  place  [as  it  were  seeking  work  and  finding  none  ^),  and  finally  the 
rogues  and  the  strumpets. 

For  the  first  two  sorts  .  .  .  there  is  order  taken  throughout 
every  parish  in  the  realm  that  weekly  collection  shall  be  made 
for  their  help  and  sustentation — to  the  end  they  shall  not  scatter 
abroad,  and,  by  begging  here  and  there,  annoy  both  town  and 
country.  Authority  is  also  given  unto  the  justices  in  every 
county  (and  great  penalties  appointed  for  such  as  make  default) 
to  see  that  the  intent  of  the  statute  in  this  behalf  be  truly  executed 
according  to  the  purpose  and  meaning  of  the  same,  so  that  these 
two  sorts  are  sufficiently  provided  for  ;  and  such  as  can  live 
within  the  limits  of  their  allowance  (as  each  one  will  do  that  is 
godly  and  well  disposed)  may  well  forbear  to  roam  and  range 
about.  But  if  they  refuse  to  he  supported  by  this  benefit  of  the  law, 
and  will  rather  endeavour  by  going  to  and  fro  to  maintain  their 
idle  trades,^  then  are  they  adjudged  to  be  parcel  of  the  third  sort, 
and  so  instead  of  courteous  refreshing  at  home,  are  often  cor- 
rected with  sharp  execution  and  whip  of  justice  abroad.  Many 
there  are  which,  notwithstanding  the  rigour  of  the  laws  provided 
in  that  behalf,  yield  rather  with  this  liberty  (as  they  call  it)  to 
be  daily  under  the  fear  and  terror  of  the  lash  by  abiding  where 
they  were  born  and  bred,  to  be  provided  for  by  the  devotion  of 
the  parishes. 2 

Our  authority  then   proceeds  to  define  "  idle  beggars  " 
as  such  as  are  idle  **  either  through  other  men's  occasion 

^  Our  italics. 

^  Harrison,  op.  cit.     His  division  of  the  poor  is  obviously  based  on  the 
findings  of  Bishop  Ridley's  committee. 

146 


A    MEDIEVAL    PERIOD 

or  through  their  own  default."  By  "other  men's  occasion," 
he  means,  "  where  some  covetous  man  doth  find  such 
means  as  thereby  to  wipe  many  out  of  their  occupyings 
and  turn  the  same  unto  his  private  gains."  We  have  seen 
in  what  manner  many  worthy  and  hard-working  folk 
became,  together  with  their  wives  and  children,  "  idle 
beggars"  through  "other  men's  occasion."  In  an  age 
which  possessed  10,000  sturdy  beggars  at  a  time,  which 
saw  300  to  400  thieves  sent  to  the  gallows  annually,  in 
which  every  roadway  was  infested  by  this  sorry  crowd  of 
despairing  searchers  after  work,  and  which  produced  some 
of  the  most  luminous  intellects  of  all  time,  it  is  matter 
for  surprise  that  a  better  solution  than  the  Poor  Law  of 
Elizabeth  was  not  discovered.  The  solution  is  perhaps  to 
be  found  in  the  words  of  Harrison,  who,  having  with  some 
sympathy  described  the  case,  concludes  with  the  words, 
"  Certes,  in  some  men's  judgment  these  things  are  but 
trifles  and  not  worthy  the  regarding." 

It  is  a  notable  fact  that  the  two  periods  of  our  history 
when  wealth  most  quickly  grew — we  speak  of  the  ages 
when  the  Americas  were  discovered  and  when  machinery 
and  steam  came  into  use — were  both  marked  by  the 
gravest  misfortunes  inflicted  on  large  masses  of  innocent 
people.  The  fact  would  appear  to  be  that  these  great 
economic  changes,  complicated  in  both  cases  by  move- 
ments in  favour  of  the  consolidation  of  farms  and  live- 
stock, upset  the  accustomed  balance  and  poise  of  society, 
and  as  is  always  the  case  when  changes  thus  occur,  bore 
with  all  their  weight  upon  that  portion  of  the  community 
that  had  the  least  resources  in  either  money  or  intelligence 
to  support  them. 

Development  of  Resources 

If  we  looked  solely  at  the  working  of  the  Poor  Law, 
however,  we  should  bear  away  a  false  impression  of  the 
English  working  population  as  a  whole.  Though  without 
doubt  very  many  thoroughly  industrious  and  worthy  folk 
were  positively  driven  to  the  gallows  by  force  of  hunger, 

147 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

the  fate  of  the  majority  was  far  more  happy.  The  gene- 
rahty  of  men  tended  to  become  better  off  than  they  had  been. 
Throughout  the  seventeenth  century  material  possessions 
substantially  increased.  The  resources  of  the  world  were 
beginning  to  be  opened  up  to  an  expectant  Europe.  The 
Navigation  Acts  were  stimulating  the  growth  of  a  mercan- 
tile marine,  the  activities  of  the  various  Merchant  Adven- 
turers were  discovering  new  sources  of  wealth,  new  objects 
of  desire.  During  that  century  wages  more  than  kept 
pace  with  the  price  of  corn.  Enclosures,  though  still 
continuing,  were  opposed  both  by  the  first  two  Stuarts  and 
by  Cromwell,  and  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  turning  the 
peasant  into  the  agricultural  labourer  and  divorcing  the 
handicraftsman  from  the  land.  Great  advances  were 
made  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  in  domestic 
architecture  and  furniture.  By  the  time  Chamberlayne 
issued  the  first  edition  (1669)  of  his  famous  Anglice  Notitia 
the  export,  import,  and  re-export  trade  of  England  was 
already  considerable.  He  could  recount  (in  the  1708 
edition)  with  some  pride  that  :  *'  We  transport  from  our 
plantations  in  America  besides  what  we  consume  ourselves 
of  sugar,  indico,  tobacco,  cacao-nuts,  etc.,  besides  the 
fish,  pipe-staves,  masts,  bever,  etc.,  from  New  England  and 
the  northern  parts  of  America  to  ^400,000  per  annum." 
By  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  "  the  meanest 
mechanics  and  husbandmen  wanted  not  silver  spoons  and 
some  silver  cups  in  their  houses." 

Games 

From  the  games  played  by  the  common  people  we 
gather  that  they  were  by  no  means  without  either  leisure 
or  amusements.  The  list  of  those  available  for  the  citizen 
and  peasant  as  given  by  Chamberlayne  is  lengthy  and  has 
a  curiously  modern  appearance.  Football  and  cricket  were 
even  then,  in  conjunction  with  hand-ball,  the  favourite 
games.  Golf  (or  goffe)  appears  high  up  in  the  list,  and 
above  cudgels,  bear-baiting,  bull-baiting,  cock-fighting, 
bowling,  or  quoits.  Skittles  and  shovel-board  were  also 
148 


A    MEDIEVAL    PERIOD 

very  popular  pastimes,  while  leaping,  wrestling,  and  pitch- 
ing of  the  bar  are  given  a  secondary  place.  Chambcrlayne 
notes  as  a  unique  form  of  *  sport '  peculiar  to  England 
the  *  ringing  of  bells,*  which,  however,  was  common  also  in 
Brabant  and  Flanders. 

France 

In  France,  industry  expanded  considerably  during  the 
seventeenth  century.  Indeed,  even  as  M.  Renard  describes 
the  century  which  stretched  between  1689  and  1789  as 
an  English  century,  so  we  may  regard  the  period  of  Louis 
the  Great  as  a  French  period.  The  great  reforms  which 
such  men  as  Laffemas,  Montchretien,  and,  above  all, 
Colbert,  attempted  to  effect  in  relation  to  the  French  indus- 
trial organization  did  not  entirely  succeed,  largely  in 
consequence  of  the  deliberate  policy  of  military  aggran- 
dizement pursued  by  the  King  and  his  advisers.  Colbert, 
one  of  the  most  active,  though  not  one  of  the  greatest, 
of  French  statesmen,  and  one  raised  in  the  school  of  the 
great  Cardinal  Mazarin,  early  determined  on  the  cleansing 
of  the  system  of  taxation,  the  development  of  trade  and 
industry,  and  the  organization  of  an  effective  navy.  His 
and  Riquet's  improvement  of  the  canal  system  did  for 
France  what  the  later  activities  of  the  Duke  of  Bridgewater 
achieved  for  England.  He  fostered  manufactures  in 
every  way  possible,  establishing  new  industries,  importing 
from  abroad  eminent  craftsmen,  forbidding  emigration, 
and  protecting  inventors. 

Colbert,  however,  was  essentially  a  bureaucrat.  He 
looked  rather  to  the  good  of  the  State,  and  of  a  State  in 
which  the  kingship  occupied  a  pre-eminent  place,  than  to  the 
well-being  of  the  worker.  He  desired  to  make  France 
prosperous  and  independent  as  far  as  possible  of  foreign 
countries  in  matters  of  trade  and  manufacture.  He  set 
out  in  an  orderly  way  to  form  an  organization  to  obtain 
information,  and  with  the  information  thus  obtained  to 
draft  and  enforce  regulations  to  control  and  regulate 
French  industry.     It  was  in  vain  that  the  merchants  of 

149 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

France  said  to  Colbert,  when  it  was  proposed  to  take  , 
measures  to  protect  their  interest,  "  Laissez-nous  faire  " — 
he  refused  to  leave  anyone  alone.  He  regulated  every- 
thing, and  consequently  Colbertism  has  become  almost  a 
synonym  for  State  regulation  of  the  severest,  most  bureau- 
cratic kind. 

Colbert's  main  steps  were  taken  in  1664,  1665,  and  1669. 
In  the  year  first  mentioned  the  Conseil  du  Commerce  was 
established  to  consider  the  regulations  of  trade  and  in- 
dustry. In  the  year  following  commissioners  were  sent 
into  the  provinces  to  gather  from  the  masters  and  workmen 
all  the  details  relating  to  their  several  trades.  Colbert  had 
expressed  the  belief  that  the  French  artisans,  masters  and 
men,  would  receive  the  commissioners  with  open  arms. 
In  this  he  was  disappointed.  Guy  Poquelin  and  Fran9ois 
de  la  Croix  not  infrequently  met  with  serious  opposition 
and  on  occasion  were  subject  to  deUberate  boycott.  In 
the  result,  however,  by  1669  the  regulations  controlling 
industry  had  been  substantially  completed  by  the  pro- 
mulgation of  four  important  ordinances. 

Four  years  later,  still  pursuing  his  aim  of  obtaining  fine 
workmanship,  which  he  believed  to  be  the  essence  of 
prosperous  industry,  Colbert  obtained  the  issue  of  the 
ordinance  concerning  the  gilds  or  corps  de  metiers^  the 
purpose  of  which  was  to  strengthen  these  associations  in 
a  manner  which  would  enable  them  once  again  to  exercise 
a  useful  and  practical  control  over  both  masters  and  men. 

That  the  system  of  regulation  thus  established  by  Colbert 
was  cordially  detested  by  the  people  is  certain,  that  it 
achieved  some  important  results  is  also  certain,  that  it 
was  gravely  hampered  by  the  circumstances  of  the  reign 
in  which  it  was  devised  is  probable.  Whether  or  not 
it  was  economically  an  essentially  bad  system  is  a  matter 
of  doubt.  It  would  seem  that,  like  all  other  systems  of 
bureaucratic  control,  it  tended  to  level  all  down  to  a  mono- 
tonous mediocrity  without  great  villains  or  great  heroes  in 
its  piece ;  that  it  resisted  alterations  or  improvements ;  and 
that  it  gave  over  the  people  to  the  privileged  and  shut  and 
150 


A    MEDIEVAL    PERIOD 

barred  the  door  to  individual  advance,  and  consequently 
eliminated  a  great  part  of  individual  incentive.  It  did, 
however,  tend  to  very  splendid  and  beautiful  craftsmanship 
and  for  a  century  made  France  the  dictator  in  all  matters 
of  applied  art. 

The  Workshop 

Meanwhile  important  changes  had  been  taking  place 
in  the  fabric  of  society.  Industry  was  no  longer  entirely 
domestic.  Wholesale  manufacture  was  springing  into 
being.  In  the  factory  of  van  Robais  as  many  as  1692 
workpeople  were  employed  before  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  Many  workers  no  longer  lived  or  worked  with 
their  masters,  and  these  were  beginning  to  form  a  class 
apart.  Their  interests  were  becoming  not  merely  different 
from,  but  opposed  to,  those  of  their  employers.  They  were 
beginning  to  organize  to  defend  those  interests. 

As  yet,  however,  the  divorce  of  man  from  master  was 
the  exception  rather  than  the  rule.  Though,  even  in  the 
time  of  Adam  Smith,  by  far  the  greater  number  of  the 
manufacturers,  artisans,  or  handicraftsmen  worked  for  a 
master,  the  usual  workshop  was  but  a  small  affair  employ- 
ing anything  from  two  to  a  dozen  hands.  In  such  places 
master  and  man  worked  together.  The  apprenticeship 
system  lived  on  throughout  this  period  and  underwent  but 
slight  change  from  the  form  it  had  taken  in  the  fourteenth 
century.  The  period  of  apprenticeship  tended  at  first  to 
become  shorter  than  it  had  formerly  been  and  varied  from 
four  to  eight  years,  but  under  the  Statute  of  Apprentices 
seven  years  became  the  normal  period  in  England.  Often 
the  number  of  apprentices  that  could  be  taken  was  strictly 
limited,  sometimes  to  as  few  as  one  at  a  time.  This  matter, 
again,  was  regulated  in  England  by  the  Elizabethan  statute. 
The  apprentice  still  lived  with  his  master  and  was  kept  by 
him  in  food,  clothing,  and  shelter,  and  was  forbidden  to 
leave  his  master's  service  or  seek  other  employment. 

Chamberlayne,  writing  in  England  in  1669,  having 
observed  that  slavery  was  no  longer  part  of  the  social  order 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  ' 

in  England,  and  that  but  few  villeins  were  left,  observes  | 
that    "  the    nearest    to    this     condition    are    apprentices." 

The  apprentice,  indeed,  during  the  term  of  his  articles  was,  ' 

in  both  England  and  France,  placed  very  completely  under  | 

the  control  and  tutelage  of  his  master.  ' 

At  the  end  of  his  articles  the  apprentice  in  France  no  ! 

longer  becomes  the  valet^  but  is  now  referred  to  as  the  i 

compagnon.     He  still  remained  subject,  however,  to  quote  \ 
M.  Levasseur,  "  to  the  laws  of  the  corporations  which  the 

masters  alone  had  caused  to  be  made,  and  of  which  the  \ 

principal  provisions  had  always  for  their  object  the  estab-  ' 
lishment  of  their  authority  and    their    privileges."     The 

workman  was  required  to  look  up  to  his  master,  obey  him,  i 

and  be  faithful  to  him.     If  he  failed  in  these  duties  fine  | 

and  imprisonment  were  the  punishments.     Neither  in  France  \ 

nor  in  England  might  he  leave  his  employ  without  just  , 

cause;  other  masters  might  not  employ  him  unless  he  had  i 

been  discharged  and  could  prove  that  he  had  completed  ^ 

his  last  job.     The  workman  was  frequently  forbidden  to  ] 

work  on  his  own  account — and  covins  and  combinations  ] 

between   workmen   with  a  view  to  organized  opposition  \ 

to  the  master  were  interdicted.  ! 

It  would  appear  that  the  tendency  was  for  wages  to  I 

increase  in   the   second   half  of  the   seventeenth   century  | 

and  for  such  increase  to  be  effective,  that  is  to  say,  the  | 

purchasing  power  increased. ■*•     The  hours  of  labour  were  j 

not  sensibly  decreased.     The  day  was  still  a  true  day.  1 

^  For  a  full  analysis  of  the  wages  in  France  in  the  seventeenth  century  see  ; 
M.  Levasseur,  Histoire  des  classes  ouvrieres  el  de  l' Industrie  en  France  avani  \ 
1789,  t.  ii,  pp.  394  et  seq,  \ 


152 


CHAPTER  VII 

EDUCATION 

WE  now  approach  in  point  of  time  the  revolution- 
ary epoch  formed  by  the  agrarian  and  industrial 
changes  which  occurred  in  the  last  half  of  the 
eighteenth  and  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The 
present  is,  therefore,  a  convenient  place  in  which  to  pause 
awhile  and  look  backward  upon  the  trend  of  education 
throughout  those  centuries  about  which  we  have  been 
speaking. 

We  have  seen  that  in  the  medieval  period,  and  to  an 
intensified  degree  in  the  era  of  serfdom,  the  life  of  the 
working  classes  was  simple  and  narrow.  Their  needs  were 
small,  their  opportunities  few.  It  could  hardly  have  been 
otherwise,  for  throughout  these  years  both  the  peasantry 
and  the  proletariat  of  Europe  were  composed  almost 
exclusively  of  unlettered  men  and  women. 

Generalizations  on  this  matter  must  not,  however,  be 
pushed  too  far.  Throughout  the  ages  known  to  history 
there  have  been  some  systems  of  education  devised  by  all 
communities  that  have  achieved  civilization.  Civilization 
depends,  indeed,  upon  the  trained  mind,  and  rises  or  falls 
according  to  the  level  of  intelligence  of  the  ruling  classes. 
It  is,  of  course,  only  within  recent  years  that  the  masses 
have  in  any  way  been  identified  with  the  ruling  classes 
or  that  their  education  has  become  a  matter  of  political 
importance. 

Brito-Roman  Schools 

Professor  Haverfield  was  wont  to  say  that  the  general 
level  of  education  in  this  country  was  higher  at  the  time 
of  the  Roman  occupation  than  at  any  time  up  to  the  second 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  those  early  days  Britain, 
and  in  an  increased  degree  Gaul,  possessed  numerous 
and  excellent  schools  at  which  it  is  evident  the  working 
classes  were  taught  at  least  the  rudiments  of  grammar. 
The  story  of  these  early  schools  is  only  slowly  being  pieced 
together  and  it  is  not  yet,  and  probably  never  will  be,  known 
what  system  of  education  was  pursued.  It  can,  however, 
be  stated  that  in  these  Brito-Roman  schools  masters  of 
eminence  taught,  that  the  school  language  used  was  Latin ; 
that  working  people  learnt  to  read  and  write  at  least,  and 
that  it  was  not  uncommon  for  the  upper  classes  to  finish 
their  education  abroad. 

With  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  learn- 
ing disappeared  from  the  land.  With  the  coming  of 
Christianity  the  ancient  fabric  of  knowledge  began  little 
by  little  to  be  re-woven.  For  one  century  Northumbria 
was  in  the  van  of  European  culture.  In  the  ninth 
century  that  eminent  West  Saxon,  Alfred  the  Great,  made 
it  one  of  the  aims  of  his  life  to  provide  education  for  all 
free-born  men  of  property.  In  the  next  century,  Dunstan, 
the  wise  counsellor  of  Edgar  the  Peaceful  and  one  of  the 
earliest  of  our  reformers,  obtained  the  passing  of  a  canon 
directing  the  priests  "  diligently  to  instruct  the  youth  and 
dispose  them  to  trades."  But  as  yet  it  is  not  probable 
that  the  serf  had  any  part  in  or  gained  any  advantage  from 
these  reforms,  and  the  whole  machinery  for  educating  the 
middle  and  upoer  classes  was  violently  upset  by  the  Norman 
Conquest. 

The  Medieval  System 

From  the  Norman  Conquest  to  the  Black  Death  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  believe  that  the  ordinary  working 
man  could  have  received  any  education,  for  although  it  is 
evident  from  contemporary  sources  that  on  occasion  even 
the  serfs  were  seeking  opportunity  to  send  their  children 
to  school,  and  although  in  rare  instances  it  is  obvious  that 
the  children  of  the  lowest  orders  became  most  highly 
educated,  it  is  still  true  that  a  form  of  education  which 


EDUCATION 

ignored  the  vernacular  tongue,  which  taught  all  it  had  to 
teach  in  either  Norman-French  or  Latin,  was  useless  to  the 
child  whose  life  was  to  be  spent  in  a  workaday  world  that 
spoke  English. 

The  schools  of  all  the  centuries  from  the  eleventh  to 
the  end  of  the  fourteenth  were,  indeed,  places  wherein 
were  trained  the  future  monks  and  gentlemen.^  Broadly 
speaking,  and  ignoring  for  the  moment  the  gild  schools, 
the  aim  of  all  the  schools  controlled  by  the  Church  was  to 
train  the  man  who  would,  when  grown  to  maturity,  be 
either  a  gentleman  or  a  priest,  using  the  term  gentleman  to 
mean  one  whose  duties  would  be  mainly  concerned  with 
government,  either  local  or  central,  and  war.  Some  other 
types,  it  is  true,  emerged.  The  lawyer,  the  administrator, 
the  manorial  factors  and  stewards,  obtained  their  groundings 
in  these  early  schools,  but  even  these  types  were  in  the 
eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thirteenth  centuries  almost  identified 
with  priests;  none  of  them  belonged  to  the  same  order  of 
society  as  the  masses. 

The  Gild  Schools 

The  gild  schools  of  later  growth  were  founded  to  meet 
the  needs  of  another  class.  To  some  extent  free  of 
ecclesiastical  control,  and  working  under  the  agis  of  the 
newly-risen  corporations,  they  taught  the  child  of  the  gilds- 
man.  These  schools  acted  as  elementary  schools  for  the 
children  of  merchants  and  craftsmen.  In  the  earlier 
years  they  were  neither  numerous  nor  wealthy,  though  as 
time  passed  they  grew  greatly  in  strength. 

Church  Control 

Apart  from  these  gild  schools  the  Church  claimed 
absolute  control  over  education.  By  the  twelfth  century 
the  position  had  been  reached  that,  apart  from  special 
franchise  or  charter,  no  man  might  keep  school  unless 
licensed  by  the  Church,  though  in  the  opening  years  of  the 

^  Girls'  schools  were,  of  course,  early  in  existence,  but  they  too  trained 
the  ecclesiastical  and  upper  classes. 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

thirteenth  century  this  licence  could  be  obtained  free.  It 
was  in  that  and  in  the  preceding  century  that  the  First 
Renaissance  began.  The  activities  of  the  great  Nominalist 
Roscellinus  and  his  disciple  Abelard  had  caused  a  break 
in  the  monastic  traditions  represented  by  Lanfranc  and 
Anselm.  The  university  of  Paris  arose  distinct  from  the 
old  cathedral  schools.  Already  in  the  eleventh  century, 
in  Italy,  the  great  university  of  Bologna  had  acquired  a 
European  reputation  under  Pepo  and  his  successor  Irnerius. 
A  dispute  between  Becket  and  Henry  II  was  destined  to 
result  in  the  founding  of  the  university  of  Oxford  by  the 
scholars  who  had  been  compelled  to  leave  Paris. 

But  it  is  not  of  the  universities  that  we  would  speak. 
The  studium  generate  was  the  Mecca  of  the  studious  classes, 
it  had  little  concern  with  the  children  of  the  poor  except 
that  occasionally  some  bright  child  was  assisted  on  his  way 
to  fame  and  fortune  by  the  scholarships  or  fellowships 
which  even  in  those  early  ages  could  be  obtained. 

It  is  indeed  true  that  in  origin  the  universities  were 
designed  as  higher  schools  for  the  child  of  the  poor  man 
and  for  the  rich,  but  it  was  rather  for  the  man  who  intended 
to  devote  his  life  to  learning  that  they  catered.  Such  a 
class  was  recruited  in  insignificant  numbers  from  the 
working  population. 

We  must  therefore  turn  aside  from  the  consideration 
of  those  movements,  such  as  that  inaugurated  by  the 
Brethren  of  the  Common  Life  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
and  the  rise  of  the  academies  and  universities  in  all  parts 
of  Europe  during  the  centuries  which  stretched  from  the 
eleventh  to  the  fifteenth,  for  they  are  movements  connected 
but  slightly  with  the  life  of  the  common  people. 

The  Lollards 

According  to  Mr  de  Montmorency  we  have  to  look  to 
the  struggle  led  by  Wycklif  in  the  fourteenth  century  for 
the  turning-point  in  the  history  of  education  in  England. 
Hitherto  the  control  exercised  by  the  Church  had  been 
almost  absolute.     The  Lollards   fought  hard  for  liberty, 

156 


EDUCATION 

both  in  matters  of  conscience  and  in  matters  of  education, 
and  although  their  movement  was  in  time  suppressed  it 
flourished  exceedingly  for  many  years.  During  the  latter 
half  of  the  fourteenth  century  two,  and  perhaps  three, 
generations  of  school-children  were  being  taught  by  men 
sympathetic  to  the  Lollard  teachings.  The  result  is  to 
be  seen  in  part  in  the  legislation  of  the  opening  years  of  the 
succeeding  century. 

The  movement  in  favour  of  freedom  in  matters  of  educa- 
tion was  given  greater  momentum  by  the  improvement  in 
the  status  of  the  labouring  classes  due  to  the  Black  Death. 
The  serf  was  dying  out  and  those  who  still  remained  were 
no  longer  the  chattels  they  once  had  been.  The  State,  the 
law  courts,  the  corporations,  were  all  leaning  in  favour  of 
opening  the  schools  to  all  who  could  pay,  and  of  mitigating 
the  iron  rules  concerning  the  licensing  of  schoolmasters. 
We  find  the  City  of  London  aiding  schools  unconnected 
with  the  Church.  We  find  the  State  expressly  stating 
that  the  unfree  child  might  aspire  to  learning,  despite 
the  fact  that  in  1391  the  Commons  had  petitioned  the 
King  *'  that  it  be  ordained  and  commanded  that  neither 
native  nor  villein  put  his  children  henceforward  to  school 
in  order  that  they  may  become  clerks,  and  this  in  order 
to  maintain  and  save  the  honour  of  the  free  men  of  the 
realm." 

In  the  great  case  of  the  Gloucester  Grammar  School 
(1400)  the  judges  laid  down  the  momentous  principle 
that  "  to  teach  youth  is  a  virtuous  and  charitable  thing  to 
do,  helpful  to  the  people,  for  which  the  teacher  cannot 
be  punished  by  our  law."  The  competition  created  by 
the  unlicensed  schoolmaster  caused  a  sharp  drop  in  the 
school  fees  charged.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  II,  when 
Walter  Map  was  sneering  at  the  villeins  for  wishing  to 
educate  their  "  base  and  degenerate  children,"  the  fees 
at  Gloucester  Grammar  School  were  forty  pence  or  two 
shillings  per  child;  in  the  reign  of  Henry  IV  they  had 
dropped  to  twelve  pence,  but  even  so  the  sum  demanded 
equalled  a  twentieth  of  the  yearly  wage  of  a  master  hind. 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

In  another  direction,  however,  the  Lollard  movement 
struck  a  heavy  blow  at  education.  When  at  length  the 
strong  arm  of  the  State  fell  with  full  weight  upon  that  sect, 
the  unlicensed  schoolmaster  and  the  unorthodox  school- 
master were  attacked.  Very  many  schools  were  closed, 
with  the  result  that  in  the  fifteenth  century  there  were 
fewer  schools  than  there  had  been  three  centuries  before. 
The  suppression  by  Henry  V  of  alien  monastic  foundations 
had  a  similar  effect. 

The  Reformation 

Little  by  little  the  scholastic  organism  recovered,  but  in 
its  convalescence  it  became  once  more  firmly  grafted  on 
to  the  Church.  Then  occurred  the  crushing  blows  which 
the  Reformation  rained  on  the  Church  and  upon  all  things 
controlled  by  the  Church.  While  Luther  in  Germany 
was  bringing  education  to  the  doors  of  the  cottage, 
Henry  VIII  in  England  was  destroying  church  and 
monastery  and  school.     As  Mr  William  Page  says  : 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  Reformation  nearly  all  education  was 
maintained  by  the  Church,  and  when  the  chantries  were  dissolved 
practically  the  whole  of  the  secondary  education  of  the  country 
would  have  been  swept  away  had  not  some  provision  for  the 
instruction  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes  been  made  by  con- 
tinuing, under  new  ordinances,  some  of  the  educational  endow- 
ments which  pious  founders  had  previously  founded. ^ 

Prior  to  the  Reformation  it  would  seem,  indeed,  that,  in 
the  words  of  Mr  Leach,  **  national  education  was  in  a  far 
more  flourishing  state  than  it  was  at  the  opening  of  the 
nineteenth  century."  ^  This,  in  truth,  is  not  high  praise, 
but  it  serves  to  guard  us  from  the  common  error  of 
believing  that  the  Tudors  were  the  founders  of  grammar 
school  tuition.  Indeed,  it  has  been  remarked  that  "  very 
few,  if  any,  of  the  so-called  Edward  VI  Grammar  Schools 
had   their    origin    in    the    reign    of    that    monarch."     A 

*  The  Yorkshire  Chantry  Surveys. 
2  Schools  at  the  Reformation. 

158 


EDUCATION 

consideration  of  the  number  of  grammar  schools  in 
existence  prior  to  the  Reformation  shows  that  there  were 
more  schools  per  head  of  the  population  then  than  in  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Thus,  Essex  possessed 
sixteen  grammar  schools  for  11,000  people,  and  Here- 
fordshire was  almost  as  well  supplied  with  its  seventeen 
schools  for  30,000  people. 

Elizabethan  Reforms 

Under  Elizabeth,  however,  an  attempt  was  made  to 
remedy  a  deplorable  state  of  affairs.  It  is  indeed  mar- 
vellous that  an  age  which  saw  the  second  great  Renaissance, 
which  was  alive  to  all  the  wonders  of  the  New  Learning, 
which  possessed  on  the  Continent  such  great  educational 
leaders  and  reformers  as  Luther,  Melanchthon,  Erasmus, 
John  Sturm  of  Strassburg,  Wolfgang  Ratke,  and,  toward 
the  end  of  this  period,  John  Amos  Comenius,  an  age 
which  saw  the  spread  of  this  learning,  under  the  leadership 
of  More  and  Colet,  to  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and  thence 
outward  to  the  schools  of  England,  should  have  been  the 
one  which  experienced  the  blight  of  ignorance  spreading 
over  the  land.  But  it  was  so,  and  with  this  evil  Elizabeth 
and  her  ministers  struggled  almost  in  vain. 

In  the  words  of  Mr  de  Montmorency,  "  It  was  not  the 
fault  of  the  Elizabethan  policy  that  it  had  to  deal  with 
machinery  deliberately  wrecked  by  the  predecessors  of 
the  great  Queen.  All  that  could  be  done  under  such 
circumstances  seems  to  have  been  done."  ^  The  uni- 
versities were  incorporated  ;  administrative  abuses  were 
corrected;  the  student  was  given  special  privileges  under 
the  labour  legislation ;  elementary  education  was  rendered 
more  free,  the  secondary  system  purified.  The  com- 
plaints levelled  by  Harrison  that  fellowships  went  by 
favour  to  the  rich  rather  than  by  merit  to  poor  and  rich 
alike  were  dealt  with.  But,  as  in  the  case  of  her  Poor 
Law  reforms,  the  Queen's  educational  reforms  were  to  no 
small  extent  vitiated  by  maladministration. 

1  State  Intervention  in  English  Education. 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  | 

As  yet  no  system  of  State  education  existed.    Learning  \ 

was  still  reserved  to  those  who  could  pay,  except  where  j 

pious    founders    had    established    free,    or    partially    free,  ! 

schools,  and  many  of  these  had  been  dispossessed.     Under  i 

Elizabeth,  however,  we  begin  to  find  serious  efforts  being  \ 

made  by  local  action  to  form  funds  with  which  to  pay  the  j 

educational  charges  of  able,  though  poor,  children.     The  ! 

schoolmaster  was  shown  favour  and  was  relieved  of  certain  ; 

burdens  borne  by  others  in  the  matter  of  taxation.     But  1 

as    yet    the    whole    educational    machinery    was    but    ill  ! 

developed.     Bacon  could  protest,  and  with  good  reason,  : 

at  the  absence  of  adequate  funds  with  which  to  pay  the  i 

salaries  of  masters  or  the  cost  of  experiments.     Science,  i 

which  was  now  beginning  to  be  something  more  than  the  ' 

toy  of  the  alchemist,  was  still  neglected.     The  poor  man's  ; 

child  was  still  unlettered.     It  was  not  until  1649  that  the  \ 
first  small  State  grant  was  made. 

Poor  Law  Schools  i 

It  is,  of  course,  in  this  reign,  as  we  have  seen,  that  the  ! 

Poor  Law  system  was  so  extensively  developed.     Under  ; 

that  system  many  poor  children  were  settled  by  the  parish,  • 

and  there  is   some  evidence  that,   as  the  result  of  local  ' 

activities,  efforts  were  early  made  to  provide,  free  of  charge,  ' 

some  rudiments  of  learning  to  the  parish  poor.     Some-  '• 

times  we  find  a  parish  schoolmaster  appointed,  his  small  ; 
salary  being  paid  from  the  rates.     Sometimes  the  school 

fees   of  the   pauper   child  are   provided.     The   extent  of  : 

these  activities,  depending  as  they  did  upon  the  enlighten-  ■ 

ment  of  the  local  authorities,  it  is  not  easy  at  present  to  ' 

ascertain  ;    it  would  seem,  however,  that  for  a  season  a  : 
definite  effort  was  made  in  some  districts  to  provide  the 

elements   of  education  for   the    poor   of  the   parish,   but  j 
that  these  occasional  and  sporadic  attempts  to  give  free 

teaching  died  away  and  that  the  parish  schools  either  ceased  ; 

or  degenerated  into  places  at  which  the  poor  children  were  j 

'  minded '   by  illiterates    for   an    inadequate    pittance    per  1 

week.  I 

160  ! 


EDUCATION 

The  Commonwealth 

Under  the  Commonwealth  Government  it  seemed, 
indeed,  that  national  education  might  be  achieved.  Un- 
happily, the  reform  of  our  grammar-school  system  by 
Comenius  had  been  rendered  impossible  by  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  War,  but  in  1649  an  Act  of  some  moment  was 
passed  establishing  for  Wales  commissioners  empowered  to 
appoint  schoolmasters,  to  levy  rates  for  their  maintenance, 
to  pay  salaries  not  exceeding  ^^40  a  year,  and  to  arrange 
for  the  pensioning  of  the  dependents  of  deceased  masters. 
First-fruits  and  tenths,  to  the  maximum  extent  of  ;/^2o,ooo 
a  year,  were  devoted  to  the  cause  of  education  in  England, 
and  ;^2ooo  a  year  was  voted  to  Oxford  and  Cambridge. 

With  the  Restoration,  however,  education  in  England 
and  Wales  once  more  most  seriously  declined.  It  was  its 
connexion  with  the  Church  that  again  proved  its  undoing. 
In  order  that  the  King  and  the  Church  might  be  preserved 
the  schoolmaster  was  pursued  with  tests  and  oaths.  The 
result  was  that  for  a  century  the  education  of  the  people 
languished,  and  that  by  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
England  was  peopled  by  illiterates. 

We  will  revert  to  this  matter  again  somewhat  at  length 
later,  but  for  the  moment  it  will  be  well  to  journey  over 
the  seas  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  had  crossed  in  search  of  free- 
dom of  conscience  to  see  whether  any  crop  had  sprung  from 
their  sowing. 

Early  American  Efforts 

In  point  of  date,  the  first  step  appears  to  have  been 
taken  in  New  England  in  1636,  when  the  small  sum  of 
^^400  was  voted  with  which  to  build  and  found  the  little 
school  which  was  destined  to  become  th(  famous  Harvard 
University,  so  named  in  honour  of  its  early  benefactor 
John  Harvard,  who  on  his  death  at  an  early  age  in  1638 
endowed  the  school. 

Two  years  later  a  free  school  was  established  in  the 
colony  of  New  Haven,  and  in  1650,  in  Connecticut,  one  of 

L  161 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

the  most  momentous  advances  was  made  in  the  direction 
of  popular  education  by  the  passing  of  a  local  law  which 
imposed  upon  parents  and  upon  the  masters  of  appren- 
tices the  duty  of  seeing  that  their  children  and  charges 
were  properly  taught  to  read,  to  know  the  elements  of  their 
duty  to  the  State,  and  to  learn  a  short  orthodox  catechism. 
Failure  to  perform  this  duty  resulted  in  the  children  being 
removed  from  their  care  and  placed  under  masters  by  them 
to  be  taught  until  the  age  of  twenty-one  in  the  case  of  boys, 
or  eighteen  in  the  case  of  girls,  was  reached. 

In  addition  to  these  provisions  making  education  com- 
pulsory, steps  were  taken  to  establish  an  elementary  school 
in  every  hamlet  of  fifty  (later  reduced  to  thirty)  house- 
holders, and  a  grammar  school  for  every  unit  of  one  hundred 
householders,  thus  anticipating  by  nearly  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years  Condorcet's  rejected  plan  for  an  elementary 
school  for  every  four  hundred  households  and  secondary 
educational  facilities  in  each  of  the  one  hundred  and  ten 
divisions  into  which  France  was  to  be  divided.  In  1690 
two  free  schools  were  established. 

In  Massachusetts  these  provisions  were  followed  and 
to  some  extent  expanded  by  the  local  Act  passed  in  1692 
entitled  **  An  Act  for  the  Settlement  and  Support  of 
Ministers  and  Schoolmasters."  By  this  law  it  was  pro- 
vided that : 

Every  town  within  this  province,  having  the  number  of  fifty 
householders,  or  upwards,  shall  be  constantly  provided  of  a  school- 
master, to  teach  children  and  youth  to  read  and  write.  And 
where  any  town  or  towns  have  the  number  of  one  hundred 
families  or  householders,  there  shall  also  be  a  gram.mar  school 
set  up  in  every  such  town,  and  some  discreet  person,  of  good 
conversation,  well  instructed  in  the  tongues,  procured  to  keep 
such  a  school  ;  every  such  schoolmaster  to  be  suitably  encouraged 
and  paid  by  the  inhabitants. 

As  Mr  de  Montmorency,  upon  whose  valuable  work 
we  have  so  often  relied  in  what  we  have  stated  above,  says : 

It  is  [more  than  two  centuries]  since  the  Legislature  of  New 
England  determined  to  reproduce  the  grammar-school  system  of 
162 


EDUCATION 

Old  England  supported  by  a  compulsory  rate,  and  to  supplement 
it  with  a  compulsory  primary  system  such  as  England  was  not 
destined  to  see  even  in  theory  until  1876.^ 

There  was,  however,  a  great  and  important  difference 
between  the  new  and  the  old.  In  New  England  the 
Dissenter  was  not  a  being  to  be  feared  and  suppressed; 
learning  was  not  chained  hand  and  foot  to  the  Church; 
the  seeds  of  decay  were  not  introduced  into  the  grammar- 
school  system.  In  Old  England  the  Church  was  recom- 
mencing her  assault  upon  free  education,  using  that  term 
in  the  sense  of  freedom  to  teach  and  to  learn» 

France 

In  France  the  course  of  events  in  early  times  was 
similar  to  that  in  England.  In  the  words  of  Matthew 
Arnold : 

From  the  fifth  to  the  fifteenth  century  the  institutions  founded 
for  popular  instruction  bore  little  or  no  fruit,  because  instruction 
in  Europe  was  up  to  that  time  nearly  confined  to  one  class  of 
society,  the  clergy.  From  the  very  earliest  times,  indeed,  a 
simple  shepherd  boy,  like  Saint  Proclus  of  Berry,  might  enter 
a  monastery  school  and  become  one  of  the  learned  men  of  his 
epoch  ;  but  it  was  on  condition  of  embracing  the  ecclesiastical 
profession.^ 

In  the  fifteenth  century  there  became  manifest  in  France, 
as  under  the  Lollards  in  England,  a  growing  demand  for 
instruction  independent  of  the  Church.  In  141 2,  almost 
at  the  time  the  Gloucester  Grammar  School  case  was  being 
decided  in  England,  we  find  the  inhabitants  of  Saint- 
Martin  de  Villers,  in  the  diocese  of  Evreux,  founding  a 
school  for  their  own  parish.  The  bishop  opposed  the 
foundation,  complaining  that  his  privileges  were  en- 
croached upon  and  that  his  own  school  at  Touque  was 
injuriously  affected.     The  dispute  was  settled  by  the  lay 

^  State  Intervention  in  English  Education. 

2  Cited  from  his  report  prepared  for  the  Newcastle  Commission. 

163 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

founders  consenting  to  vest  the  appointment  of  the  new 
teacher  in  the  hands  of  the  bishop.  On  a  later  occasion 
the  dispute  again  broke  out  and  the  courts  upheld  the 
ecclesiastical  privileges.     The  school  was  closed. 

Sixteenth-Century  Demands 

By  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  however,  the 
need  for  schools  was  so  apparent  that  the  States-General 
at  its  sessions  held  at  Orleans  and  at  Blois  in  1560,  1576, 
and  1588  drew  the  French  king's  attention  to  the  want 
of  elementary  schools.  The  Third  Estate  demanded  that 
the  clergy  should  be  compelled  to  "  instruct  or  cause  to 
be  instructed  the  children  of  the  poor  in  all  good  learning, 
according  to  their  capacity,  even  from  their  earliest  years." 
This  obligation,  it  was  insisted,  should  not  be  evaded  "on 
pretext  of  the  negligence  of  parents  and  sponsors."  Little 
was  done,  and  though  by  an  ordinance  of  1560  it  was 
decreed  that  "  in  every  cathedral  or  collegiate  church  one 
prebend,  or  the  revenues  of  the  same,  shall  be  permanently 
devoted  to  maintain  a  preceptor,  and  to  give  free  schooling 
to  the  children  of  the  place,"  the  king,  Charles  IX,  found 
the  opposition  of  the  Church  too  strong  and  was  unable 
to  enforce  the  ordinance. 

Persecution  of  Heretics 

A  very  different  attitude,  however,  was  adopted  by  the 
clerics  in  their  zeal  for  the  elimination  of  heretics  after 
the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  What  piety  and 
the  desire  for  the  well-being  of  the  people  had  been  un- 
able to  secure,  bigotry  and  the  love  of  persecution  in  form 
achieved. 

To  quote  once  more  from  Matthew  Arnold : 

The  persecuting  government  of  Louis  XIV  bethought  itself 
of  the  village  schoolmaster  as  a  useful  agent  in  the  work  of 
forcible  conversion.  A  royal  edict  of  December  13,  1698,  gave 
orders  to  take  the  children  of  heretics  from  their  families  at  five 
years  old,  in  order  to  bring  them  up,  by  compulsion,  in  Catholic 
schools. 
164 


EDUCATION 

But  these  Catholic  schools  did  not  yet  exist.     The  edict 
therefore  proceeded  to  provide  that : 

There  shall  be  established,  so  far  as  it  is  possible,  schoolmasters 
and  schoolmistresses  in  every  parish  that  is  without  them,  in 
order  to  instruct  the  children  of  both  sexes  in  the  principal 
mysteries  of  the  Catholic,  Apostolic,  and  Roman  Religion  ...  in 
order,  likewise,  to  teach  reading  and  even  writing,  to  all  who 
might  need  them.  To  this  end  it  is  our  pleasure  [the  edict 
continues]  that  in  places  where  there  are  no  other  funds,  there 
shall  be  a  power  of  taxing  all  the  inhabitants  to  raise  stipends 
for  the  said  schoolmaster  and  schoolmistress  up  to  a  sum  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  livres  a  year  for  a  master,  and  of  one  hundred 
for  a  mistress. 

Such  a  law  even  under  a  despotism  was  too  repulsive 
to  the  national  sentiments  of  humanity  to  be  capable  of 
being  enforced.  The  village  children  of  France  were 
initiated  neither  in  the  mysteries  of  the  CathoHc,  Apostolic, 
and  Roman  rehgion  nor  in  the  rudiments  of  letters. 

The  Voluntary  Effort 

In  France,  indeed,  until  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  such 
education  as  was  given  to  the  poor  of  France  was  supplied 
neither  by  the  State  nor  by  the  Church,  but  by  religious 
or  charitable  associations.  In  this  England  and  France 
again  pursued  the  same  path.  In  France  by  1789  twenty 
such  associations  were  engaged  in  teaching  the  children 
of  the  masses.  Of  these  the  Institut  des  Freres  des 
Ecoles  Chretiennes,  founded  in  1679  by  Jean  Baptiste 
La  Salle,  was  by  far  the  most  important,  though  the 
Ursulines  played  a  prominent  part  in  the  education  of 
girls. 

By  1785  the  number  of  children  taught  by  the  Institut 
des  Freres  was  about  30,000.  At  the  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, their  activities  were  suspended  and  they  themselves 
dispersed.  They  were  re-established  by  Napoleon,  and 
in  1825  during  the  Restoration  they  possessed  210  houses. 
By  1848  they  had  in  France  19,414  schools,  and  taught 
1,354,056  children. 

165 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

The  Restoration  in  England 

The  so-called  *  Cavalier '  Parliament,  which  lasted  from 
1 66 1  to  1679,  has  been  described  as  being  *'  more  zealous 
for  royalty  than  the  King,  more  zealous  for  episcopacy 
than  the  Bishops."  With  this  Parliament  commenced  that 
series  of  odious  Acts  against  the  Dissenters  which  struck 
so  grave  a  blow  at  religious  and  intellectual  freedom. 

In  1 66 1  all  officers  of  corporations  were  compelled  to 
conform  to  the  rites  of  the  Church  of  England.  In  the 
following  year  the  Act  of  Uniformity  required  all  school- 
masters and  persons  instructing  youth  to  conform. 
Licences  from  the  Church  were  rendered  compulsory 
under  pain  of  three  months'  imprisonment,  a  clause  which 
was  not  repealed  until  1846,  though  in  the  opening  years 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  but  not  before,  it  had  become 
practically  obsolete. 

Three  years  later  yet  another  blow  was  struck.  The 
Five  Mile  Act  forbade  any  Nonconformist  minister  to 
come  within  five  miles  of  any  town  wherein  he  had  formerly 
preached  or  lectured,  and  all  Dissenters,  whether  lay  or 
clerical,  were  prohibited  from  teaching  in  any  public  or 
private  school  under  penalty  of  a  fine  of  ^^o  and  imprison- 
ment for  six  months. 

The  above  Acts  are  only  part  of  a  long  series,  continued 
with  intermission  for  many  years,  designed  to  destroy  one 
form  of  freedom  of  opinion.  The  result  was  to  usher  in 
an  era  of  intellectual  sleep.  The  English  peasant  child 
of  the  eighteenth  century  had  hardly  the  same  facilities 
for  acquiring  the  rudiments  of  knowledge  as  were  given  to 
the  slave  children  of  the  Cape  by  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company. 

The  attitude  of  the  governing  classes  for  the  next  hundred 
and  fifty  years  may  indeed  be  seen  in  the  words  of  Lord 
Hardwicke  when  he  said,  **  Though  at  the  Reformation 
greater  invitations  were  made  to  bring  the  poor  to  schools, 
that  is  not  so  proper  now,  for  at  present  the  poor  had 
better  be  trained  up  to  agriculture." 
166 


EDUCATION 

The  Charity  Schools 

The  barrenness  of  the  period  would  have  been  almost 
entirely  unrelieved  had  it  not  been  for  the  notable 
increase  in  the  number  of  scholastic  foundations  estab- 
lished by  private  munificence  in  the  closing  years  of 
the  seventeenth  and  the  opening  years  of  the  eighteenth 
centuries. 

It  is  not  impossible  that  this  development  was  due, 
to  some  extent,  to  the  attitude  of  the  law-courts,  which 
were  beginning  to  regard  somewhat  closely  the  wide  claims 
of  the  Church  and  the  ecclesiastical  courts  to  decide  or 
control  all  matters  relating  to  education.  By  Bates's 
case  (1670)  the  master  appointed  by  the  trustees  of  a 
foundation  was  protected  from  expulsion  by  the  bishop, 
and  by  Cox's  case,  decided  thirty  years  later,  a  doubt  was 
raised  as  to  whether  the  Church  had  control  over  schools 
other  than  grammar  schools. 

Operating  in  the  same  direction  was  the  treaty  of  peace, 
the  so-called  Healing  Act,  which  Richard  Baxter  and  Dean 
Tillotson  drew  up  in  1674.  This  agreement  was  designed 
to  bring  about  a  rapprochement  between  the  orthodox  and 
dissenting  Churches,  and  although  the  bishops  refused  to 
confirm  the  Act  it  evidenced  a  desire  on  the  part  of  a 
respectable  body  of  opinion  within  the  Church  to  grant 
toleration  to  the  Nonconformists.  This  party  was  subse- 
quently strengthened  by  the  elevation  of  Tillotson  to  the 
Archbishopric  of  Canterbury,  and  it  is  evident  that  in 
material  parts  the  most  rigorous  of  the  laws  against 
Dissenters  were  not  commonly  put  into  practice;  otherwise 
it  is  hardly  possible  to  conceive  that  any  Dissenters  could 
at  this  period  have  taught  in  any  school. 

The  Voluntary  Schools 

The  opening  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  were 
particularly  notable  for  the  number  of  charities  which  had 
for  their  object  the  foundation  and  endowment  of  schools. 
These   endowed   schools,   however,   though   available   for 

167 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

the  education  of  poor  children,  met  the  needs  rather  of  the 
middle  than  of  the  lower  classes,  and  it  is  to  the  so-called 
voluntary  schools,  i.e.,  unendowed  schools,  the  expenses 
of  which  were  borne  partly  or  wholly  by  public  subscrip- 
tions and  in  some  cases  partly  by  small  fees  paid  by  the 
parents,  that  we  have  to  look  for  the  gradual  spread  of 
education  among  the  masses  of  the  people. 

Early  Efforts 

Brougham,  in  his  speech  made  in  the  House  of  Commons 
in  1 820  on  the  occasion  of  the  introduction  of  his  Education 
Bill,  stated  that : 

Shortly  before  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  in  [1679], 
the  most  intolerant  period  of  French  history,  was  founded  the 
first  society  in  the  world,  and  for  a  long  time  the  only  one,  for 
the  advancement  of  education;  its  founder  was  the  celebrated 
Pere  La  Salle,  and  the  order  was  denominated  "  Les  Freres  des 
Ignorants,"  ^  and  their  vow  was  to  found  schools. 

That  this  was  **  the  first  society  in  the  world  for 
the  advancement  of  education  "  is  manifestly  incorrect. 
Europe  had  seen  three  centuries  before  the  splendid 
schools  which  had  been  founded  by  the  Brethren  of  the 
Common  Life.  The  Congregation  of  Christian  Teaching 
had  been  established  in  1592.  Indeed,  it  is  not  necessary 
to  journey  to  either  other  countries  or  other  centuries  to 
find  earlier  examples  of  private  associations  being  estab- 
lished for  the  advancement  of  education.  It  is  probable, 
from  the  general  trend  of  his  speech,  that  Brougham  in- 
tended to  restrict  the  application  of  his  generalization  to 
the  education  of  the  poor  in  elementary  schools.  Even 
so,  however,  Pere  La  Salle  had  been  anticipated  in  this 
country  by  Thomas  Gouge,  a  Dissenter  expelled  under  the 
Act  of  Uniformity,  who  devoted  the  remainder  of  his  life 
to  establishing  schools  in  Wales  at  which  poor  children 
could   learn   to   read   English,   write,   and   cast   accounts. 

^  This  is  another  name  for  the  Freres  des  Ecoles  Chretiennes  already 
referred  to. 

168 


EDUCATION 

Gouge's  activities  appear  to  have  commenced  somewhere 
between  1670  and  1672  and  three  years  later  no  fewer 
than  2225  children  had  been  put  to  school. 

The  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge 

An  even  more  imposing,  and  possibly  connected, 
organization  was  developed  in  the  closing  year  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  The  Society  for  Promoting 
Christian  Knowledge,  whose  purpose  was  to  teach  poor 
children  reading,  writing,  and  the  principles  of  the  Christian 
religion,  was  indeed  the  most  important  educational  force 
at  work  among  the  poor  in  England  until  the  foundation, 
or  rather  the  consolidation,  of  the  Sunday  schools  by  Robert 
Raikes  in  1780. 

The  growth  of  the  Society  was  surprisingly  rapid.  As 
early  as  1713  Addison  could  speak  of  the  institution  as 
one  '*  which  of  late  years  has  so  universally  prevailed 
throughout  the  whole  Natidn."  By  171 5  there  were  120 
schools  in  London  and  Westminster  alone,  and  in  1729 
there  had  been  established  1658  schools,  at  which  34,000 
children  attended. 

As  the  eighteenth  century  progressed  it  would  seem 
that  the  schools  created  by  the  Society  for  Promoting 
Christian  Knowledge  seriously  declined  in  efficiency,  and 
the  chief  part  of  the  burden  of  educating  the  poor  fell  upon 
the  Sunday  schools.  We  are  now,  of  course,  entering  into 
the  era  of  the  Industrial  Revolution,  when  child  labour 
was  being  utilized  to  its  utmost  and  when  for  many  children 
Sunday  was  the  only  full  day  available.  We  must  not, 
however,  compare  the  Sunday  schools  of  those  days  with 
the  modern  Sunday  school.  In  the  eighteenth  century 
the  pupil  could  receive  instruction  in  secular  subjects  on 
two  evenings  in  the  week  as  well  as  for  five  and  a  half 
hours  on  Sundays.  The  '  pupils  '  were  often  adults. 
Then  as  now  the  parents  were  not  called  upon  to  pay 
anything.  By  1834  it  was  estimated  that  there  were  in 
England  and  Wales  1,500,000  persons  attending  Sunday 
schools. 

169 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

The  Nineteenth  Century 

The  opening  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  are  marked 
by  a  notable  awakening  of  the  pubUc  conscience  in  many 
departments  of  sociology.  The  violent  upheavals  of  the 
French  Revolution,  the  industrial  and  agrarian  changes, 
and  the  Napoleonic  wars  were  beginning  to  subside  and 
the  question  of  popular  education  became  for  a  time  acute. 
The  attitude  of  Parliament  toward  Whitbread's  Parochial 
School  Bill  of  1807  showed,  however,  that  the  governing 
classes  were  opposed  in  principle  to  the  spread  of  education, 
for  their  opposition  was  based  not  upon  the  opinion,  later 
held  by  Lord  Brougham,  that  the  voluntary  effort  had  met 
the  situation  and  rendered  compulsory  education  un- 
necessary, but  upon  the  view  that  it  was  dangerous  to  teach 
the  "laborious  classes"  anything  save,  perhaps,  enough  of 
reading  to  enable  them  to  piece  out  bit  by  bit  the  Bible. 

The  general  desire  among  the  people  for  more  and 
better  education  expressed  itself,  however,  in  a  great 
increase  in  the  number  of  voluntary  schools  and  in  the 
number  of  children  attending  these  schools.  The  activities 
of  Andrew  Bell  and  Joseph  Lancaster  had  resulted  in  the 
development  of  two  great  organizations,  the  National 
Society  for  Promoting  the  Education  of  the  Poor  in  the 
Principles  of  the  Established  Church  throughout  England 
and  Wales,  and  the  Royal  Lancasterian  Institution,  which 
later  became  the  British  and  Foreign  School  Society. 

State  of  Education  in  Europe 

The  state  of  education  in  Europe  in  the  first  two  decades 
of  last  century  may  be  gathered  from  the  speech  of 
Brougham  already  referred  to.  This  speech,  based  as  it 
was  upon  laborious  investigations,  shows  with  admirable 
clearness  the  illiteracy  of  our  people  before  1803  and  the 
gradual  spread  of  education.  Before  1803,  /.^.,  before 
the  development  of  the  new  school  system  under  Dr  Bell 
and  Mr  Lancaster,  only  one  in  twenty-one  of  the  popu- 
lation was  placed  in  the  way  of  education  in  day-schools. 
170 


EDUCATION 

By  1820  the  proportion  had  only  increased  to  the  extent 
of  one  in  sixteen.  In  France  only  one  in  twenty-eight 
was  educated,  and  even  that  proportion  had  been  reached 
only  by  recent  improvements.  In  18 17  870,000  children 
received  education  in  France,  while  in  18 19  the  number 
had  increased  to  1,070,000.  In  18 17  only  one  in  thirty- 
five  of  the  population  of  France  was  educated.  Despite 
the  decrees  of  1795  establishing  primary  schools  through- 
out France,  in  Brougham's  words :  **  France  was  at  that 
period  [18 17]  in  almost  as  bad  a  state  in  that  respect 
as  Middlesex,  which  was,  beyond  all  dispute,  the  worst- 
educated  part  of  Christendom." 

In  the  smaller  countries  of  Scotland,  Holland,  and 
Switzerland  the  position  was  better.  Even  at  the  end  of 
the  eighteenth  century  one  in  ten  of  the  population  of 
Scotland  appears  to  have  received  some  degree  of  educa- 
tion, a  proportion  which  equals  that  attained  by  Holland 
in  1 8 1 2.  Switzerland  was  in  still  better  case,  for,  according 
to  the  data  supplied  by  Mr  Dumont,  there  was  in  1820 
twelve  times  as  much  education  given  as  in  England. 
Not  more  than  one  in  sixty  of  the  populace  was  illiterate ; 
in  England  one  in  five  was  illiterate. 

The  next  few  years,  however,  were  fruitful  in  educational 
development.  The  first  of  the  Factory  Acts,  passed  in 
1802,  had  been  followed  by  numerous  other  Acts  which 
we  shall  have  occasion  hereafter  to  refer  to,  all  of  which 
required  that  the  child-worker  should  receive  a  certain 
measure  of,  or  facilities  for  acquiring,  education.  At 
first  the  tuition  supplied  was  so  bad  and  unworthy  as  not 
to  merit  attention,  but  in  time  the  compulsory  clauses 
had  their  effect,  and  more  and  more  children  took  ad- 
vantage of  those  voluntary  foundations  which  expanded  as 
the  need  grew. 

In  1828  a  further  impetus  was  given  to  education  by 
the  repeal  of  the  Test  and  Corporation  Acts.  That 
cordial  co-operation  between  Churchmen  and  sectarians 
which  those  laws  had  hitherto  prevented  was  no  longer 
impossible,  and  the  result  was  such  that  when,  in   1835, 

171 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Brougham  addressed  the  House  of  Lords  upon  the 
Education  Bill  then  before  Parliament,  it  was  to  oppose 
compulsory  education  on  the  ground  that  the  voluntary 
system  had  proved  itself  sufficient  to  meet  the  needs  of 
the  case.  The  returns  upon  which  that  speech  was  in 
part  based  showed  that  in  the  unendowed  day-schools  the 
number  of  children  attending  had  increased  from  478,000 
in  18 1 8  to  1,144,000  in  1835,  and  the  number  of  schools 
from  14,000  to  31,000. 
y^  On  the  other  hand,  the  endowed  schools  had  for  some 
time  past  been  declining.  As  Lord  Kenyon  had  occasion 
to  remark  in  1795:  "Whoever  will  examine  the  state 
of  the  grammar  schools  in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom 
will  see  to  what  a  lamentable  condition  most  of  them  are 
reduced.  In  some  instances  that  have  lately  come  within 
my  own  knowledge,  there  was  not  a  single  scholar  in  the 
schools,  though  there  were  very  large  endowments." 
Even  after  numerous  efforts  had  been  made  to  improve  the 
administration  and  teaching  in  these  schools.  Brougham 
could  note  that  in  an  age  of  great  educational  advance- 
ment the  number  of  those  attending  the  grammar  schools 
had  declined  from  166,000  to  150,000. 

Brougham  and  the  Voluntary  System 

But  we  go  beyond  our  present  limits.  The  new 
educational  movement  which  was  becoming  fully  apparent 
in  the  first  half  of  last  century  belongs  rather  to  that  great 
series  of  social  improvements  which  we  shall  have  to 
consider  in  the  second  part  of  this  book.  We  cannot, 
however,  terminate  this  brief  account  of  the  efforts  volun- 
tarily made  to  bring  education  to  the  masses  without 
quoting  those  words  of  one  who  had  done  so  much  for  the 
advancement  of  the  cause  of  learning. 

Where  we  have  such  a  number  of  schools  and  such  means  of 

education   furnished  by  the  parents  themselves  from  their  ow^n 

earnings,  and  by  the  contributions  of  well-disposed  individuals  in 

aid  of  those  whose  earnings  are  insufficient,  it  behoves  us  to  take 

172 


EDUCATION 

the  greatest  care  how  we  interfere  with  a  system  which  prospers 
so  well  of  itself ;  to  think  well  and  long  and  anxiously,  and  with 
all  circumspection  and  all  foresight,  before  we  thrust  our  hands 
into  a  machinery  which  is  now  in  such  a  steady,  constant,  and 
rapid  movement,  for  if  we  do  so  in  the  least  degree  incautiously, 
we  may  occasion  ourselves  no  little  mischief,  and  may  stop  that 
movement  which  it  is  our  wish  to  accelerate.  I  know  well  the 
difficulties  of  maintaining  the  continuance  of  subscriptions  first 
begun  on  occasions  of  public  spirit  excited,  and  beneficent  zeal 
aroused,  I  know  well — as  do  all  men  who  have  bestirred  them- 
selves, how  little  soever,  with  the  purpose  of  benefiting  their 
fellow-citizens — that  nothing  can  be  more  perilous  than  to  give 
contributors  an  opportunity  of  saying,  what  some  will  feel  and 
others  will  be  ready  to  urge — "we  need  not  subscribe  any  more, 
for  the  Government,  or  the  county,  or  the  parish  has  stept  in  to 
educate  the  people,  and  will  now  maintain  our  institution."  Let 
the  tax-gatherer,  or  the  county-assessor,  or  the  parish  collector, 
but  once  go  his  rounds  for  a  school  rate,  and  I  will  answer  for  it, 
that  the  voluntary  assistance  of  men  in  themselves  benevolent, 
and,  indeed,  munificent,  instead  of  increasing,  will  soon  vanish 
away  ;  that  the  1,144,000  now  educated  at  unendowed  schools 
will  speedily  fall  down  to  almost  nothing  ;  and  that  the  adoption 
of  such  a  fatal  and  heedless  course  will  sweep  away  those 
establishments  which,  at  present,  reflect  so  much  honour  on  the 
community,  which  do  so  much  good,  and  are  calculated,  with 
judicious  management,  to  do  so  much  more.  Add  to  this,  that 
in  many  parts  of  the  country — ^and  those  the  very  districts  where 
the  people  need  instruction  most — they  are  by  no  means  anxious 
for  it,  nor  very  eager  to  send  their  children  to  school.  Those 
persons  who  found  and  support  schools  are  of  infinite  use  in 
encouraging  the  poor  to  benefit  by  their  exertions  ;  and  all  this 
useful  engine  of  improvement  would  be  destroyed  if  the  affair 
of  education  once  were  made  a  parish  concern. 

Lord  Brougham's  eloquent  plea  for  the  continuance  of 
the  voluntary  effort  and  the  exclusion  of  the  compulsory 
principle  was  successful  in  its  immediate  object,  and  it 
was  not  until  forty-one  years  later  that  the  compulsory 
system  was  established  by  Act  of  Parliament.  It  is 
notable  as  showing  the  darkness  from  which  the  people 
had    but     recently    emerged    that    so    broad-minded     an 

173 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

educational  reformer  had  been  fully  content  to  leave 
untouched  a  system  which  gave  but  a  smattering  of 
knowledge  to  less  than  one  half  of  the  population,  and 
a  system  which  was  based  rather  upon  the  charity  of 
the  classes  than  upon  the  rights  residing  in  the  children 
of  the  masses  to  be  taught,  howsoever  poor  their  parents 
might  be. 


174 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    AGRARIAN    REVOLUTION 

AT  the  time  of  the  Whig  Revolution  England 
LJL  was  in  the  main  a  country  of  commons  and 
X  jL common  fields;  at  the  time  of  the  Reform  Bill 
England  was  in  the  main  a  country  of  individualist  agri- 
culture and  of  large  enclosed  farms."  In  these  words  the 
authors  of  T/ie  Pillage  Labourer  contrast  England  as  it 
existed  before  and  after  one  of  the  most  important  events 
which  have  occurred  in  all  her  history — the  disappearance  of 
the  old  English  village  society,  with  its  common  fields  and 
waste  lands,  its  domestic  workers,  its  crofters  and  cottagers. 
A  movement  which  reached  its  highest  point  in  the 
opening  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  had  begun,  as 
we  have  seen,  centuries  before.  Harrison,  indeed,  writing 
of  the  decade  1 577-1 587,  has  told  us  of 

the  daily  oppression  of  copyholders,  whose  lords  seek  to 
bring  their  poor  tenants  almost  into  plain  servitude  and  misery, 
daily  devising  new  means,  and  seeking  up  all  the  old,  how  to  cut 
them  shorter  and  shorter,  doubling,  trebling,  and  now  and  then 
seven  times  increasing  their  fines,  driving  them  also  for  every 
trifle  to  lose  and  forfeit  their  tenures  (by  whom  the  greatest  part 
of  the  realm  doth  stand  and  is  maintained),  to  the  end  they  may 
fleece  them  yet  more,  which  is  a  lamentable  hearing. 

A  little  later  Edward  Laurence  was  advising  *'  noble- 
men and  gentlemen  "  to  endeavour  to  convert  copyhold  for 
lives  into  leaseholds  for  lives. 

The  steward  should  endeavour  to  let  all  the  small  farms,  let 
to  the  poor,  indigent  people,  to  the  great  ones.  But  it  is  unwise 
to  unite  farms  all  at  once  on  account  of  the  odium  and  the  increase 
of  the  poor  rates.  It  is  more  reasonable  to  stay  until  the  farms 
fall  in  by  death. 

^7S 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

By   these   two    methods    of  compelling   forfeitures,  by 
oppressive  fines  and  by  transmuting  customary  tenancies 
into  leaseholds  for  lives  which  fell  in  on  the  death  of  the 
tenant,    together    with    the    rearrangements    of   holdings 
which   were   arrived   at    by   friendly   agreement    between 
tenants  and  the  lord,  substantial  areas  had  been  enclosed 
throughout  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries.     As 
Dr  Usher,  however,  observes,^  the  earlier  enclosures  were  j 
partial ;    they  included  portions   of  improved  waste   lands  ; 
belonging  to  the  demesne  farm,  and  parts  of  the  open  fields,  j 
They  of  necessity  effected  something  of  a  transformation  \ 
in   the  old  agricultural   technique  and  bore  hardly  upon  ' 
the  individuals  who  chanced  to  be  dispossessed  of  their  j 
holdings   and   who    fell    almost   inevitably    either   into   a  ' 
condition  of  dependence  upon  the  parish  or  into  vagrancy ;  ' 
but,  unlike   the   enclosures   which  took   place   under  the  ^ 
Enclosure  Acts  of  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries,  ; 
they  left  the  village  as  a  social  unit  almost  untouched.  , 

Nature  of  the  Enclosure  Movement 

This  was  so  not  because  the  areas  enclosed  were  com-  , 
paratively   small    before  1750 — indeed,    Dr    Usher   is   of 

opinion  that  the  case  of  Oxfordshire  was  not  exceptional,  : 

and  that  throughout  the  country  as  much  land  was  enclosed  ; 

between  1600  and  1758  as  was  enclosed  after  1758 — but  ! 

because  the  earlier  enclosures,  effected,  as  they  were,  not  j 

by  Act  of  Parliament,  but  by  private  pressure  or  arrange-  \ 

ment,  merely  transferred  some  villagers'  holdings  into  the  | 
hands  of  the  larger  landowners,  leaving  the  commons  and 

wastes,  though  reduced  in  area,  still  existing  and  still  able  ' 

to  play  their  accustomed  part  in  an  ancient  polity.     The  i 

enclosures    under    the    private    Bills    which   were    rushed  i 

through  Parliament  in  such  numbers  between   1750  and  | 

1845  ^°^  '-"^^y  resulted  in  the  enclosure  of  nearly  all  the  ; 

open   fields  then   remaining  in   England,   but   by  taking  | 

manor   by   manor   or  village   by   village   and   completely  1 

^  Introduction  to  the  Industrial  History  of  England.  \ 

176 


THE    AGRARIAN    REVOLUTION 

rearranging  the  holdings,  dispossessing  the  squatters  and 
many  of  the  cottagers  of  their  holdings  and  their  quasi- 
customary  rights,  changing  the  common-field  system  of 
husbandry  into  the  method  of  farming  to  which  we  are 
to-day  accustomed,  effected  an  entire  change  in  the  social 
fabric  of  the  countryside.  These  enclosure  Acts,  indeed, 
brought  to  an  end  the  era  of  peasant  proprietorship,  up- 
set the  ancient  balance  between  supply  and  demand  in 
such  vital  matters  as  milk  and  meat  and  fuel,  and  hastened 
that  redistribution  of  population  which  the  invention  of 
machinery  and  the  development  of  the  fire-engine  or 
steam-engine  was  already,  before  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  bringing  about. 

As  a  result  of  the  Agrarian  and  the  Industrial  Revolutions, 
England  was  changed  from  a  country  of  rustic  domestic 
workers  into  a  land  of  urban  factory  hands,  and  this  mighty 
change,  with  all  its  miseries  and  resulting  gains  and  prob- 
lems, took  place  in  little  less  than  a  century.  In  this 
present  chapter  we  will  endeavour  to  describe  the  Agrarian 
Revolution ;  in  the  next  we  will  consider  the  Industrial 
Revolution. 

The  movement  of  which  we  now  speak  is  that  which 
took  place  by  virtue  of  the  various  enclosure  Acts.  Of 
these  Acts  the  first  appears  to  have  been  passed  in  1606, 
two  were  passed  in  the  reign  of  Anne,  sixteen  in  the 
reign  of  George  I,  and  226  in  the  reign  of  George  II. 
By  the  opening  year  of  the  nineteenth  century,  1700  Acts 
had  come  into  operation,  while  not  less  than  2000  were 
placed  on  the  Statute  Book  between  1800  and  1844. 
Mr  Levy  has  calculated  that  between  1702  and  1760 
only  400,000  acres  were  affected,  while  in  the  next  fifty 
years  5,000,000  acres  were  enclosed.  Judge  Bowen  has 
reckoned  that  as  regards  Wales,  by  1795,  of  the  5,100,000 
acres  in  Monmouthshire  and  the  Principality,  1,693,628 
acres  only  of  unenclosed  waste  or  common  lands  existed, 
and  of  these  160,868  acres  alone  were  capable  of  culti- 
vation. 

M  .  177 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Motives 

The  motives  which  inspired  the  legislature  when  passing 
these  Acts  have  been  very  variously  described.  That 
class  ignorance  and  selfishness  inspired  many  of  the 
petitions  is  susceptible  of  proof,  but  the  view  that  Parlia- 
ment, venal  and  representative  as  it  was  only  of  the  class 
which  gained  from  these  enclosures,  should  have  steadily 
pursued  for  one  hundred  years,  and,  indeed,  for  longer,  a 
policy  of  mere  robbery  is  not  lightly  to  be  accepted. 

In  endeavouring  to  form  a  judgment  on  the  attitude 
and  motives  of  the  men  who  brought  about  the  Agrarian 
Revolution  it  is  well  to  consider  what  their  views  were  and 
to  what  extent  history  has  shown  those  views  to  be  justified. 
It  is  also  worth  pondering  what  would  have  happened  had 
there  been  no  Agrarian  Revolution.  If,  at  the  end  of  our 
inquiries,  we  find  the  present  state  of  England  to  be 
better  than  it  would  otherwise  have  been,  it  is  but  just  and 
wise  to  stay  the  flinging  of  missiles  at  the  memory  of  those 
who  brought  about  the  change,  though  from  the  misery 
that  change  immediately  created  we  may  learn  how  to  avoid 
the  pitfalls  our  ancestors  fell  into.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
we  come,  as  some  writers  would  seem  to  have  done,  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  landowners  of  the  enclosure  period 
were  merely  selfish  parasites,  the  question  arises,  and  has 
been  raised,  as  to  whether  the  wrong  then  done  should  not 
be  rectified. 

A  reference  to  page  137  will  show  that  whereas  in  1693 
the  population  of  England  was  expected  to  amount  to 
6,420,000  in  1800,  and  to  7,350,000  in  1900,  it  in  fact 
amounted  to  9,168,000  and  to  32,527,000  in  those  years 
respectively.  This  question  of  population  should  be 
kept  firmly  in  mind  when  considering  the  whole  of  the 
enclosure  episode,  for  it  must  be  accepted  that  the  main 
objection  to  enclosure  is  that  it  drove  the  people  off  the 
land,  a  grievance  which  presupposes  that  apart  from  it 
the  people  could  have  remained  on  the  land.  It  is  ap- 
parent, however,  that  a  system  which  was  only  capable 

178 


THE    AGRARIAN    REVOLUTION 

of  supporting  in  the  barest  manner  some  7,000,000  people 
could  not  have  kept  and  fed  more  than  four  times  that 
number. 

Advantages 

If  we  turn  to  contemporary  writers  ^  we  find  men  of 
the  highest  mind  and  most  sympathetic  natures  strongly 
pressing  for  enclosure,  not  because  they  gained  thereby, 
but  because  they  considered  it  to  be  for  the  good  of  the 
country.  Thus,  Bentham  believed  that  by  enclosures 
the  country  was  making  the  most  splendid  strides  toward 
prosperity  and  happiness.  Sir  Frederick  Eden,  who  was 
very  far  from  being  a  reactionary,  has  put  the  case  for 
enclosure  with  much  force.      He  says  : 

The  sum  is,  that  the  advantages  which  cottagers  and  poor 
people  derive  from  commons  and  wastes  are  rather  apparent 
than  real  :  instead  of  sticking  regularly  to  such  labour  as  might 
enable  them  to  purchase  good  fuel,  they  waste  their  time,  either 
like  the  old  woman  in  Otway's  Orphan^  in  picking  up  a  few  dry 
sticks,  or  in  grubbing  up,  on  some  bleak  moor,  a  little  furze,  or 
heath.  Their  starved  pig  or  two,  together  w^ith  a  few  wandering 
goslings,  besides  involving  them  in  perpetual  altercations  with 
their  neighbours,  and  almost  driving  and  compelling  them  to 
become  trespassers,  are  dearly  paid  for,  by  the  care  and  time, 
and  bought  food,  which  are  necessary  to  rear  them.  .  .  .  There 
are  thousands  and  thousands  of  acres  in  the  kingdom,  now  the 
sorry  pastures  of  geese,  hogs,  asses,  half-grown  horses,  and  half- 
starved  cattle,  which  want  but  to  be  enclosed  and  taken  care  of, 
to  be  as  rich,  and  as  valuable,  as  any  lands  now  in  tillage. 

That  there  is  great  truth  in  what  he  says  can  hardly  be 
denied.  It  was  not  mere  folly  or  greed  which  prompted 
the  words  : 

If  the  enclosure  of  waste-lands  is  facilitated  ...  we  shall 
have  the  merit  of  beginning  a  work  of  never  ending  and  still 
increasing  utility,  as  far  as  these  epithets  can  be  applicable  to 
anything  that  is  merely  sublunary  ;   of  setting  our  children  an 

^  For   an   analysis  of  contemporary  opinion   the  reader  is  referred   to 
Dr  Hasbach's  History  of  the  English  Agricultural  Labourer. 

179 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  | 

example  worthy  their  imitation;  and  leaving  them,  at  least,  ; 
one  instance  of  our  providence,  for  which  they  may  bless  our  i 
memory.  | 

It  must  be  remembered  that  in  1685  not  more  than  a  1 
half  part  of  England  was  cultivated,  and  of  this  three-fifths 
were  still  farmed  on  the  very  inefficient  common-field 
system.  Although  the  science  of  agriculture  advanced 
somewhat  under  the  Tudors,  the  yield  obtained  was  but 
a  fraction  of  what  it  is  to-day  or  of  what  it  immediately 
became  after  the  enclosures.  Had  the  old  system  lived 
on,  it  must  have  befallen,  if  we  assume  that  the  population 
would  in  such  circumstances  have  increased  as  quickly  as 
it  in  fact  did  from  1800  to  1900,  that  the  home  supply 
of  foodstuffs  would  have  been  even  smaller  than  is  to- 
day the  case,  while  millions  of  peasants  would  have 
endeavoured  to  eke  out  a  bare  existence  by  working  extra- 
ordinary hours  as  they  do  to-day  on  the  Continent. 

But  the  merely  agricultural  side  of  the  problem,  though 
it  is  the  most  considered  by  those  who  have  written  on  the 
matter,  is  by  no  means  the  most  important.  As  Eden 
quite  rightly  said  when  speaking  of  wastes  and  commons, 
**  They  ...  lie  in  the  way  of  many  improvements  of 
the  first  importance."  One  of  the  most  serious  of  their 
drawbacks  from  an  economic  point  of  view,  though  one 
not  noticed  by  Eden,  is  found  when  we  consider  the  mineral 
wealth  of  this  country. 

The  great  increase  in  prosperity  which  marked  the  later 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  largely  due  to  the  in- 
telhgent  use  of  inanimate  power,  and  particularly  the  power 
derived  from  coal.  England  grew  great  and  powerful 
on  coal.  It  is  impossible  to  say  in  what  measure  the 
exploitation  of  the  coal  and  other  mineral  resources  of  this 
country  would  have  been  checked  had  the  old  common- 
field  system  continued,  but  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that 
it  is  extremely  difficult  adequately  and  cheaply  to  exploit 
mineral  resources  under  land  the  surface  of  which  is  owned 
by  a  great  number  of  persons,  and  that  owing  to  the  form 
of  our  law,  copyhold  tenure,  giving  as  it  does  the  property 
180 


THE    AGRARIAN    REVOLUTION 

in  the  minerals  to  the  lord  and  the  possession  of  the  minerals 
to  the  copyholder,  is  not  favourable  to  mineral  development. 

To  those  acquainted  with  mining  practice  or  mining 
law  the  proposition  that  enclosure  facilitated  mineral  de- 
velopment does  not  require  argument.  Had  there  been 
no  enclosures  a  great  number  of  our  coal  mines  would 
never  have  been  sunk  and  we  to-day  should  have  been  by 
so  much  the  poorer. 

That  enclosures  resulted  in  individual  distress  was  at 
the  time  admitted,  but  Eden  advances  arguments  which 
are  at  least  respectable  when  he  says : 

The  distresses  thus  produced  can  be  but  temporary,  whilst 
the  advantages  to  be  expected  from  a  contrary  system  are  such 
as  promise  to  be  permanent,  as  well  as  daily  increasing.  The 
argument  seems  to  stand  exactly  on  the  same  footing  that  the 
mills  and  machines  for  spinning  cotton  do,  or  any  other  machine 
or  contrivance  calculated  to  lessen  labour.  One  of  the  immediate 
effects  of  all  such  improvements,  no  doubt,  is  to  throw  many 
industrious  individuals  out  of  work  ;  and  thus  to  create  distresses, 
which  are  sometimes  exceedingly  calamitous.  Still,  however,  as 
the  only  point  of  view  in  which  a  nation  can  regard  such  schemes 
of  reform  is  to  consider  how  far  they  actually  do  or  do  not 
promote  the  general  weal,  by  raising  the  largest  quantity  of 
provisions,  or  materials  for  manufacture,  at  the  least  cost,  their 
inconvenience  to  individuals  will  be  softened  and  mitigated, 
indeed,  as  far  as  it  is  practicable,  but  by  no  means  be  suffered  to 
counteract  any  new  plans  of  improvement  of  great  and  real 
national  utility.  If  this  were  not  the  proper  line  to  pursue,  it 
must  be  confessed,  the  Turks  alone  are  right,  in  not  suffering 
a  printing  press  to  be  introduced  into  their  dominions,  merely 
because  one  of  its  immediate  effects  would  be  the  depriving  many 
thousands  of  unoffending,  industrious  hackney  writers  of  the 
usual  means  of  earning  a  livelihood  ;  and  all  civilized  Europe  is 
in  error. 

Parliament 

But  although  it  is  at  least  permissible  to  take  the  view 
that  some  of  the  supporters  of  the  enclosure  movement 
were  actuated  by  the  best  motives  and  even   that  their 

i8i 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

attitude  of  mind  has  been  justified  by  events — for  he  knows 
little  of  history  who  looks  back  to  the  pre-enclosure  period 
as  to  an  Arcadian  age — the  mode  in  which  the  enclosures 
were  secured  calls  for  the  severest  censure  and  would  have 
been  impossible  had  Parliamentary  government  in  this 
country  reached  maturity.  It  has,  indeed,  been  stated 
that  it  was  only  the  early  development  of  Parliamentary 
institutions  in  England,  which  by  a  processs  of  evolution 

gave  the  legislative  control  of  the  country  for  a  season  into  j 

the  hands   of  the   landowners,   that    rendered  it   possible  , 

to  break  down  peasant  proprietorship  in  one  country  while  I 

leaving  it  almost  intact  in  the  more  conservative  countries  1 

of  the  Continent.  ji 

We  are,  indeed,  at  present  concerned  with  an  era  in  ! 

which  the  government  of  the  country,  both  central  and  ] 

local,  was  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  landholding  ! 
classes.     Although     in    theory    elective,    the    House     of 

Commons  was  in  truth  representative  only  of  those  who  ; 

controlled  the  county  and  borough  voters,  few  in  number,  ' 

who  were   open,  if  not  to  bribery,  then   to   intimidation.  ; 

Party  divisions  existed  then  as  they  do   now,   but  such  ; 

divisions  were  merely  cleavages  in  the  solidarity  of  a  single  i 

class.     The  House  of  Lords  was  hardly  more  aristocratic  , 

in  sympathy  or  more  independent  of  the  goodwill  of  the  ; 

mass  of  the  people  than  was  the  eighteenth-century  House  \ 

of  Commons.     The  kingship,  divested  of  much  of  its  power  \ 

and  authority  through  the  excesses  of  the  Stuarts  and  the  i 

ascendancy  of  the  aristocracy,  was  no  longer  able  to  play  i 

off  the  people  against  the  landowners  and  the  landowners  ' 
against  the  people  as  it  had  done  not  infrequently  in  the 

past.     For  a  season  the  masses  were  politically  impotent,  i 
Measures  could  be,  and  were,  passed  to  which  nine  out 

of  ten  of  the  people  of  the  country  were  most  bitterly  i 

opposed.     Proposals  which  were  received   with  acclama-  i 

tion  by  the  working  people  as  a  whole  could  be  rejected  : 

by  overwhelming  majorities,  and  on  appeal  to  the  hustings  j 

the  party  which  had  so  outraged  public  desires  could  be  ' 
returned  to  power. 
182 


THE    AGRARIAN    REVOLUTION 

Private  Bill  Legislation 

But  in  dealing  with  the  enclosure  movement  we  arc 
concerned  not  with  public  but  with  private  Bill  legislation. 
We  are  not  dealing  with  the  effect  of  a  general  Act  which 
lays  down  a  definite  policy,  but  with  a  movement,  originated 
by  the  landowning  classes,  supported  by  the  economists 
and  scientific  agriculturists,  which  is  given  practical  efi-'ect 
by  the  passing  of  thousands  of  private  Acts  of  Parliament, 
each  dealing  with  a  concrete  case  and  all  together  effecting 
the  immense  social  change  of  which  we  have  been  speaking. 
The  course  pursued  by  the  promoters  of  these  private 
Bills  in  the  eighteenth  and  early  nineteenth  century  has 
been  described  with  much  accuracy  and  completeness 
by  the  authors  of  The  Village  Labourer^  but  it  is  desirable 
shortly  to  indicate  the  general  course  of  events.  Up  to 
1774  an  enclosure  Act  could  be  promoted  and  could 
become  law,  thereby  affecting  the  property  rights  and 
the  whole  lives  of  a  considerable  number  of  people,  without 
any  of  the  persons  concerned,  except  the  promoters  or  their 
friends,  being  aware  that  any  proceedings  were  being 
taken.  In  that  year,  however,  the  House  of  Commons 
made  a  Standing  Order  requiring  that  notice  of  an  enclosure 
petition  should  be  affixed  to  the  church  door  in  each  of  the 
parishes  affected. 

The  petition  thus  referred  to  was  the  document  which 
the  promoters  of  the  enclosure  Bill  submitted  for  the 
consideration  of  Parliament.  The  petition  thus  received 
was  in  due  course  referred  to  a  Committee  of  the  House. 
In  such  Committee  it  was  considered  in  detail  and  upon  the 
report  of  the  Committee  the  life  of  the  Bill  depended.  If 
the  Committee  reported  in  favour,  the  Bill  became  law, 
either  in  its  original  or  in  an  amended  form,  almost  as  a 
matter  of  course,  for  it  rarely  occurred  that  it  was  lost  in 
the  Lords  and  it  never  was  refused  the  Royal  signature. 

Around  the  proceedings  in  Committee,  therefore,  the 
fight  between  the  promoters  and  the  opposers  centred. 
The  art  of  packing  the  Committee  with  friends  was  an  art 

183 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

which  was  carried  to  some  extremes,  and  was  assisted  by 
the  usual  custom  of  constituting  the  Committee  by  choosing 
those,  being  members  of  ParHament,  who  had  a  special 
knowledge  of  the  district  in  question  and  of  agriculture 
in  general.  It  consequently  befell  that,  all  members  of 
Parliament  being  then  either  of  the  landowning  or  wealthy 
classes,  the  personnel  of  the  Committee  was  biased  in 
favour  of  enclosure,  which,  whatever  it  did  or  did  not  do, 
certainly  benefited  the  landowning  classes.  Worse  than 
that,  however,  the  members  were  hardly  able  from  either 
experience  or  sympathy  to  understand  the  grievous  blow 
which  the  enclosure  Act  would  deal  to  many  small  pro- 
prietors, many  of  whom  they  regarded  as  little  better  than 
trespassers.  As  a  result,  in  very  numerous  instances  the 
interests  of  such  persons  were  almost  entirely  ignored. 

Opposition  Ineffective 

In  consequence  of  the  mode  of  forming  the  Committee 
the  promoters  were,  as  the  authors  of  The  Village  Labourer 
put  it,  "  masters  of  the  situation  unless  some  large  pro- 
prietor stood  out  against  the  scheme."  If  there  was 
some  such  opposition  the  opponent  could  generally  be 
placated  by  the  offering  of  favourable  terms,  not  infre- 
quently at  the  expense  of  those  who  could  more  safely  be 
disregarded. 

As  for  the  commoners,  their  antagonism  was  of  little 
avail.  As  we  have  seen,  before  1774  the  whole  procedure 
could  be  completed  without  their  being  aware  of  the  change 
impending,  and  the  Bill,  once  passed,  left  them  without 
remedy.  Even  after  1774  it  was  difficult  for  them  to 
take  effective  action.  The  notice  which  would  be  attached 
to  the  church  doors  would  be  couched  in  legal  language 
almost  incomprehensible  to  the  rustic  mind.  Even  after 
many  heated  debates  in  the  inns  of  the  village  nothing 
of  service  but  only  rancour  would  result.  Occasionally 
an  enterprising  lawyer  would  organize  village  opposition, 
but  it  was  no  light  task  to  tilt  against  the  squire.  The 
expense  of  private  Bill  legislation  then  as  now  was  very 
184 


THE    AGRARIAN     REVOLUTION 

heavy.  The  gathering  in  of  subscriptions  of  sufficient 
magnitude  would  be  difficult.  The  collection  of  the 
facts  necessary  effectively  to  fight  the  promoters  would 
be  a  task  requiring  both  care  and  time.  But  the  time 
available  was  short.  Cases  are  known  in  which  no  more 
than  six  weeks  elapsed  between  the  presentation  of  the 
petition  and  the  passing  of  the  Bill. 

The  promoters  on  their  side  were  of  course  fully  pre- 
pared. Their  case  could  be  worked  up  and  developed  at 
leisure,  and  the  petition  presented  only  when  the  case 
appeared  to  be  complete.  The  opposers,  on  the  other 
hand,  had  in  a  few  weeks  to  organize,  to  collect  money, 
to  collect  facts,  to  take  all  the  cumbrous  steps  necessary 
to  fight  what  was  little  less  than  an  elaborate  and  difficult 
lawsuit. 

The  result  of  so  unequal  a  struggle  was  in  the  vast 
majority  of  cases  a  foregone  conclusion.  That  such  was 
in  truth  the  case  is  to  be  seen  from  the  Statute  Book  and 
from  the  fact  that  by  1845  practically  no  waste  or  common 
lands  were  left  unenclosed  in  England. 

The  Commissioners 

The  enclosure  Act  having  been  passed  the  next  step 
was  to  appoint  commissioners  or  arbitrators  whose  duty 
it  was  to  give  effect  to  the  Act  by  allotting  to  all  persons 
having  proprietary  rights  in  the  land  in  question  allot- 
ments in  lieu  of  their  old  holdings.  The  aim  was  to  be 
just  without  being  generous,  and  justice  was  regarded 
as  a  legal  rather  than  as  a  moral  entity.  In  other 
words,  compensation  was  given  only  for  the  deprivation  of 
legal  rights.  Customary  rights,  moral  rights,  these  were 
ignored. 

Compensation 

It  should,  however,  be  carefully  borne  in  mind  that 
within  this  limit  the  enclosure  awards  were  fair.  As 
Dr  Usher  has  said :  "  The  actual  enclosure  award  was 
designed  to  give  each  owner  precisely  the  same  amount 

185 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

of  land,  or  at  least  land  of  equivalent  value ;  in  so  far  as 
enclosure  led  to  concentration  of  landholding  the  small 
proprietors  must  needs  be  bought  out  before  or  after  the 
award."  ^ 

But  though  this  was  the  aim,   in   practice  the  awards 
bore  hardly  upon  the  smaller  proprietors  in  consequence  of 

three  main  causes  :  i 

(i)  After    the    enclosure    it    frequently    befell    that    a 

commoner,    who    hitherto    had    had    a    small    holding    of  i 

common  lands  with  commonable  rights  over  the  wastes,  was  \ 

given  in  lieu  thereof  land  which,  owing  to  the  details  of  : 

the  award,  he  was  not  in  a  position  to  utilize  effectively.  I 

Instead    of    being    a    peasant-proprietor    member    of    a  ■ 

community   he    became   the    holder   of  an    allotment   on  j 

which,  for  example,  he  was  unable  to  feed  his  pigs  because  ; 

no  beech  trees  grew  on  his  allotment,  though  many  grew  | 

on  the  waste  on  which  they  formerly  fed.     The  allotment  ] 

would  be  in  size  but  little  larger  than  the  total  of  his  i 

former  strips,  very  little  land  being  allotted  in  compen-  ^ 

sation  of  commonable  rights  which  were  regarded  by  the  \ 

landowning  class  as  rights  of  small  value.     As  a  result  ; 

the  allottee  found  himself  in  possession  of  a  holding  which  i 

was  too  small  to  earn  a  living  out  of  as  a  cultivator,  and  \ 

the  tendency  was  for  him  to  sell,  often  under  pressure,  to  i 

the  larger  landowners  and  join  the  new  army  of  landless  ' 
farm-labourers. 

(2)  The  allotments — ^that  is  to  say,  the  land  distributed  - 

by  way  of  compensation  for  land  and  rights  lost — were  i 

made   in    compensation   only   for   rights   which   could    be  | 

legally  proved.     The  cottager  was  required  to  show,  as  i 

the  jargon  is,  a  "  good  root  of  title."     He  had  to  trace  < 
back  to  some  clear  grant.     The  difficulty  of  proving  title 
is  the  cause  of  the  failure  of  the  various  Land  Registration 

Acts   which  have   aimed  at   simplifying    conveyancing  in  j 

this  country,  and  it  is  no  matter  for  surprise  that  in  very  j 

many  instances  the  small  proprietors,  who  had  no  family  ■ 

lawyers,  no  muniment  chest,  and  no  knowledge  of  how  i 

1  Introduction  to  the  Industrial  History  of  England.  ' 

186  i 


THE    AGRARIAN    REVOLUTION 

they  came  by  their  land,  except  that  their  fathers  and 
grandfathers  had  held  it  before  them,  were  unable  to  show 
a  "  good  root  of  title,"  despite  the  manorial  roll  by  which 
their  tenure  would  in  most  cases  be  evidenced. 

Again,  in  many  cases,  though  the  landholding  could  be 
proved,  the  customary  rights  appurtenant  thereto  either 
could  not  be  proved  or  had  been  for  a  long  time  exceeded 
by  the  tenants.  Thus,  for  example,  it  might  be  that  a 
careful  perusal  of  the  title-deeds  and  the  manorial  incidents 
showed  that  Richard  Roe  was  entitled  by  custom  of  the 
manor  and  in  respect  of  his  holding  therein  to  pasture 
one  cow,  feed  two  pigs,  and  collect  peat  and  wood  as 
estovers,  that  is,  as  necessities  for  his  own  personal  use, 
whereas  in  fact  it  might  be  found  that  Richard  Roe  and 
his  father  before  him  had  pastured  four  cows  and  fed  ten 
pigs,  and  had  kept  poultry  and  geese  all  on  the  commons 
and  wastes,  and  had  collected  more  wood  and  peat  than 
he  himself  used.  In  such  a  case  Richard  Roe  had  without 
question  exceeded  his  rights,  but  it  is  obvious  that  a  strict 
insistence  upon  the  letter  of  the  law,  breaking  down,  as  it 
did,  customary  encroachments  long  regarded  as  rights, 
bore  very  heavily  upon  the  generation  of  peasants  which 
had  to  plead  their  case  before  the  Commissioners. 

Once,  however,  it  was  established  that  Richard  Roe's 
legal  rights  were  so  and  so,  it  was  for  that  that  he  received 
compensation.  The  rights  he  had  in  fact  exercised, 
possibly  married  upon,  and  based  his  whole  mode  of 
living  upon  in  complete  ignorance  that  he  was  doing 
anything  wrong,  were  brushed  on  one  side. 

(3)  In  very  many  cases,  and  particularly  in  the  case  of 
the  poorest  members  of  the  community,  the  peasants  had 
title  neither  to  land  nor  to  commonable  rights.  This  class, 
the  squatters,  were  in  law  mere  trespassers.  The  old 
kindly  rule  that  a  man  who  could  put  up  a  hut  so  that 
smoke  issued  from  the  hut  fire  the  next  morning  might 
claim  to  stay  on  that  part  of  the  waste  occupied  by  him  was 
of  no  validity  in  law.  Such  a  man  received  no  allotment 
at  all,  and  the   stock  he  had  collected  had  of  necessity 

187 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

immediately  to  be  sold.     The  man  himself  became  a  land- 
less labourer. 

Resulting  Evils 

Many  of  the  evil  results  which  flowed  from  enclosure 
were  unforeseen.  Thus,  for  example,  the  staple  diet  of 
the  peasantry  had  in  the  past  been  cereals,  milk,  cheese, 
and  butter.  The  possession  of  cows  by  a  vast  number  of 
small  proprietors  had  rendered  the  supply  of  milk  and 
dairy  products  easy  to  obtain,  and  as  a  consequence  there 
was  no  need  in  the  rural  districts  for  any  organization  for 
the  retail  supply  of  such  goods.  The  dairyman's  business, 
as  we  to-day  understand  that  form  of  retailing,  hardly 
existed  even  in  the  large  towns.  After  enclosures  had 
practically  compelled  the  small  man  to  give  up  the  keeping 
of  cows  a  very  great  number  of  persons  who  hitherto  had 
kept  the  beasts  that  produced  the  milk,  butter,  and  cheese 
they  used  became  dependent  on  others;  that  is  to  say, 
instead  of  being  producers  they  became  consumers.  But 
the  organization  of  trade  as  it  then  existed  was  not  designed 
to  meet  the  needs  of  a  large  consuming  class  or  to  dis- 
tribute the  products  of  a  very  small  number  of  large 
producers.  The  large  farmers  took  the  line  of  least 
resistance  and  refused  to  turn  retailers.  They  sent  their 
dairy  products  away  to  the  larger  centres  of  population  in 
wholesale  quantities.  The  immediate  result  was  that  even 
those  of  the  agricultural  poor  who  could  afford  these 
necessities  were  in  many  instances  unable  to  obtain  them. 
We  consequently  find  that,  instead  of  milk,  cheap  tea 
brewed  over  and  over  again  becomes  the  staple  drink  of 
the  people.  The  effect  on  the  health  of  the  children  in 
particular  was  for  a  time  disastrous. 

Again,  that  other  necessity  of  the  poor — fuel — was  now 
increasingly  difficult  to  obtain.  The  use  of  coal  for  house- 
hold purposes  had  only  commenced  in  Tudor  times,  and 
the  poorer  classes  even  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
looked  rather  to  peat  and  wood  for  their  fires.  These 
supplies  they  had  been  able  with  some  trouble  to  collect 
i88 


THE    AGRARIAN     REVOLUTION 

from  the  wastes,  and  they  had  in  most  manors  been  entitled 
to  them  as  matters  of  right. 

After  the  enclosures  the  position  was  entirely  different. 
The  small  tenant's  rights  were  limited  to  his  own  small 
plot  of  ground  in  the  majority  of  cases.  If  he  gathered 
wood,  or  peat,  or  even  heather,  gorse,  or  fern-stalks  for 
firing  he  ran  the  risk  of  being  proceeded  against  as  a  tres- 
passer. He  was  driven  more  and  more  to  purchase  the 
expensive  coal,  the  retailing  of  which  was  also,  as  yet,  not 
adequately  organized,  or  to  give  up  the  use  of  fuel.  In 
practice  he  generally  found  it  necessary  to  restrict  his 
needs  to  the  barest  possible  limits,  and  it  too  often 
happened  that  instead  of  the  housewife  baking  her  own 
bread  as  in  the  past,  the  labourer  was  compelled  to  resort 
to  the  baker,  who  supplied  neither  such  wholesome  nor 
such  cheap  bread. 

A  Household  Budget 

This,  however,  was  by  no  means  universally  the  case. 
Indeed,  it  is  to  be  doubted  whether  it  was  common  even 
in  the  less  thrifty  southern  counties.  There  is  preserved 
in  the  report  of  the  Poor  Law  Commissioners  who 
inquired  in  1843  ^^^^  ^^^  employment  of  women  and 
children  in  agriculture  the  housekeeping  expenses  of  an 
agricultural  family  living  in  Yorkshire.  It  gives  the 
household  budget  of  Joseph  and  Jane  Allen,  who  had  five 
children,  one  of  whom  was  old  enough  to  work.  It  was 
kept  with  great  fidelity  at  the  request  of  a  friendly  squire, 
who  offered  a  present  to  the  family  if  they  would  keep 
for  a  year  a  faithful  record.  It  is  consequently  of  greater 
value  than  the  various  budgets  collected  by  Eden.  The 
whole  of  the  accounts  are  too  lengthy  to  set  out  in  full, 
but  for  the  typical  period  extending  from  November  22, 
1840,  to  December  13  of  the  same  year  the  outgoings 
and  incomings  were  as  shown  in  Tables  I  and  II. 

The  total  housekeeping  expenses  for  the  year  amounted 
to  ;^49  1 1  J.  10^(2'.  and  the  total  earnings  of  the  man,  his 
wife,  and  son  to  ^^50   12s.  6^.,  so  that  the  family  saved 

189 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 
Table  I. — Outgoings 


Period 

Purchases 

Price 

/  3  stone  of  flour  at  2S.  ?,d. 

£ 

s. 

8 

d. 
0 

Meat     .... 

2 

0 

Sugar 
Yeast 

7 
3 

Week  ending 

Candles 
Butter 

3i 

November  29th 

8 

Soap 
Milk 

3 
3i 

Shoes 

5 

0 

\  Cheese 

3 

0 

3  stone  of  flour 

8 

0 

Meat     . 

2 

0 

Week  ending 
December  6th 

Sugar 
Soap 
Candles 
/  Milk 
Butter 
Yeast 
Tea  and 

coffee 

I 

7 
4 

7 

3J 
8 

3l 
6 

Oatmeal 

7i 

Salt        . 

3i 

/  3  stone  of  flour 

8 

0 

Meat     . 

2 

0 

Sugar     . 
Candles . 

9 
3i 

Week  ending 
December  13  th 

I  Soap 
\  Pattens  . 

Worsted 

Pots 

Yeast     . 
\  Tea  and  coffee 

I 

4 
0 

7 
7 
3 
9 

Total  for  three  weeks    . 

£^ 

10 

oi 

190 


THE    AGRARIAN     REVOLUTION 

£i  OS.  7|^.  In  the  yearly  account  appear  various  items 
of  an  exceptional  nature,  e.g.^  £2  for  house  rent,  £1  ^s.  to  a 
tailor  for  clothes  making,  and  again  los.  for  tailor,  7J.  for  a 
hat  for  the  man,  45.  ^\d.  for  7^  yards  of  blue  print,  is.  id. 
for  cotton  for  shirts,  is.  for  the  making  of  a  pair  of  gloves, 
lOJ.,  5J.,  and  4J.  for  shoes  or  shoemaking,  numerous  small 
items  for  worsted,  cotton,  and  leather  for  boot-repairing, 
lid.  for  a  prayer-book,  and  is.  for  the  schooling  of  the 
boy.    Coal  was  purchased  on  two  occasions  and  amounted 

Table  II. — Incomings 


Period 

Person  working 

Work  done 

Wages 

November  22nd  to 
December  5th 

December  6th  to 

December  13th 

(  Man 
\  Wife 
t  Boy 

Man 
•    Wife 
Boy 

12  days 
10  days 
12  days 

6  days 

5  days 

6  days 

£     s.     d. 

I  8  0 
6  8 
6     0 

14     0 

3     4 
3     0 

Total  for  three  weeks       .        .     ^^3     i     0 

to  a  considerable  sum.     Fourpence  a  week  was  paid  into  a 
clothing  club. 

The  above  account  gives  the  impression  of  being  well 
kept,  correct,  and  exhaustive.  It  belongs  to  an  age  when 
the  more  transient  of  the  evil  effects  of  the  enclosure 
system  were  passing  away.  Bread  and  cheese,  together 
with  a  small  allowance  of  meat,  with  occasionally  some 
bacon,  form  the  staple  diet.  Tea  and  even  coffee  have 
come  into  common  use.  The  Industrial  Revolution  had 
already  swept  away  the  domestic  manufactures,  and  the 
items  of  purchase  of  textiles  and  even  stockings  are  some- 
what numerous,  though  small  in  amount. 

191 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  , 

I 

Remedial  Proposals  i 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  had  Eden's  advice  been  j 
followed  many  even  of  the  transient  evils  would  not  have 
been  seriously  felt.     He  had  urged  that  : 

Whatever  system  of  enclosure  takes  place,  it  might,  perhaps,  ! 
be  advisable  that  some  specific  quantity  of  land  should  be  laid  j 
off  from  every  common  that  is  to  be  enclosed  and  improved, 
not  for  the  avowed  paupers  of  the  districts,  but  for  its  cottagers  | 
and  labourers.  If,  in  every  township,  thus  gaining  a  fresh  and  j 
large  accession  of  cultivated  lands,  a  competent  portion  of  it  ; 
were  conveniently  and  judiciously  laid  out  for  a  garden  and  a  ! 
little  croft,  enough  to  maintain  a  cow  or  two,  together  with  pigs,  ' 
poultry,  etc.,  and  enough  also  to  raise  potatoes  for  the  annual 
consumption  of  the  family,  together  with  decent  and  durable  ' 
cottages  ; — I  cannot  figure  to  myself  a  more  pleasing  or  more  ; 
advantageous  state  of  society.  ] 

This  was,  in  truth,  a  development  of  the  allotment  ' 
system  (using  the  term  not  in  the  enclosure  Act  meaning)  \ 
which  was  so  strongly  recommended  by  the  Commissioners  [ 
of  1843.     ^^  M^  Denison's  report  made  in  that  year  we  ; 

read  that  : 

i 
Some  years  back  the  labouring  classes  in  Suffolk  and  Norfolk  1 
were  much  better  off  than  they  are  now,  owing  to  the  very  j 
general  employment  of  women  and  children  in  hand-spinning.  ; 
That  employment  has  been  put  an  end  to  by  miachinery,  and  ^ 
no  other  domestic  manufacture  has  been  found  to  supply  its 
place.  .  .  .  The  only  thing  I  could  find  which  at  all  supplied  ; 
the  place  of  the  spinning  was  the  allotment  system.  .  .  .  All  the 
persons  to  whom  I  applied  for  information  on  this  subject  spoke  ' 
as  favourably  as  possible  in  favour  of  the  system. 

Mr  Clarke,  in  his  evidence,  expressed  the  opinion  that 
if  forty  to  sixty  rods  of  land  could  be  allotted  to  each  ' 
cottager  in  agricultural  parishes,  it  would  go  far  to  dis-  \ 
pauperize  them,  while  Mr  Buchanan,  another  witness,  j 
stated  that  in  Bulmer  in  Essex,  which  hitherto  had  been  a  I 
parish  almost  wholly  pauperized,  allotments  were  made  j 
among  seventy-three  families,  each  of  which  received  forty 
192 


THE    AGRARIAN     REVOLUTION 

rods  of  land  for  an  annual  rental  of  ten  shillings.  The 
result  was  that  in  a  short  space  of  time  the  situation  was 
entirely  changed.  Bulmer  became,  instead  of  the  worst 
the  best  parish,  and  inhabitants  noted  for  their  thriftlessness 
competed  one  with  another  as  to  who  should  have  the  best 
allotment. 

Proposals  not  Accepted 

The  aristocratic  Parliaments  of  the  eighteenth  century 
did  not,  however,  condescend  to  consider  remedial  measures. 
Their  main  aims — the  concentration  of  holdings,  the  im- 
provement of  cultivation,  the  development  of  the  food- 
producing  resources  of  the  land — were  sound.  The  mode 
in  which  these  aims  were  attained  was  unnecessarily  cruel. 
Had  they  been  the  representatives  of  a  watchful  electorate 
it  is  probable  that  the  enclosure  Acts  would  still  have 
been  passed,  but  it  is  almost  impossible  to  believe  that  they 
would  have  been  passed  in  a  form  which  so  ignored  the 
rights  of  those  whose  rights  were  fewest. 

Distress 

In  the  absence  of  any  such  remedial  measures  the 
acutest  distress  was  felt  in  many  districts.  The  effects  of 
the  enclosures  were,  indeed,  complicated  by  the  problems 
arising  from  the  Industrial  Revolution  and  the  Napoleonic 
wars.  These  concurrent  factors  reacted  one  on  another 
to  cause  the  semi-pauperization  of  the  peasantry  and  to 
usher  in  what  has  been  described  as  "  a  period  in  the 
history  of  the  Poor  Laws  which  it  is  difficult  to  characterise 
in  measured  language — a  period  which  reaches  its  climax 
during  the  Napoleonic  wars,  and  which  only  ended  with 
the  great  reform  of  1834,  the  new  Poor  Law."  ^  Of  this 
period  we  have  spoken  elsewhere. 

General  Results 

The  Agrarian  Revolution  had  as  its  most  fundamental 
social  effect  the  entire  disruption  of  a  system  of  society. 
1  Traill  and  Mann,  Social  England,  vol.  iv,  p.  655. 

N  193 


HISTORY    OF     LABOUR 

The  manor  as  a  social  unit  practically  disappeared.     The 

rural  worker  became  an  agricultural  labourer  rather  than  : 

a  peasant-proprietor.     On  the  other  hand,  the  land   was  i 

more  scientifically  farmed  and  produced  more  food.     Im-  \ 

provements    hitherto    impossible    were    pressed    on    with.  | 

The    wars,    however,    counteracted    the    increase    in    the  : 

supply  of  food.     The  cost  of  living  rose  rather  than  fell,  i 
The  labourer,  bereft  of  many  of  his  rights,  became  poor, 
and  the  Poor  Law  system  tended  to  make  him  a  pauper. 

The  workhouses  for  a  time  were  full  of  peasant  orphans,  j 

A   proletariat  had,  indeed,  been  formed  available   for  ex-  j 

ploitation  by  the  new  industrial  masters  whom  the  invention  ' 
of  forms  of  machinery  and  power  was  now  bringing  into 

prominence.     How  these  unhappy  people  were  exploited  \ 
we  will  next  consider. 


194 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE    INDUSTRIAL    REVOLUTION 

IN  the  opening  years  of  the  eighteenth  century,  at 
the  time  when  Chamberlayne's  son  was  producing 
the  1708  edition  of  the  Notitia,  the  principal  exports 
of  Britain  were  butter,  corn,  cattle,  cloth  (woollen),  iron, 
lead,  tin,  copper,  leather,  copperas,  pit-coal,  alum,  and 
saffron.  Chamberlayne  felt  it  a  matter  for  congratulation 
that  the  kingdom  produced  5,000,000  chaldrons  of  sea- 
coal,  1,200,000  pounds  of  tin,  800  fodders  of  lead,  and  800 
furnaces  of  iron.  A  little  more  than  a  century  later  the 
exports  of  England  amounted  to  ;^6o,ooo,ooo.  Cotton 
exports  alone  amounted  to  ;^i  8,000,000,  and  as  the 
authors  of  The  Town  Labourer  have  said, 

A  nation  that  had  been  poor  and  even  backward  in  her  roads 
now  possessed  three  thousand  miles  of  navigable  canals  besides 
her  infant  railways  ;  the  new  Stock  Exchange  had  been  founded, 
and  in  two  years  alone  no  less  a  sum  than  a  hundred  and  seventy 
millions  had  been  subscribed  for  joint-stock  companies. 

MM.  Renard  and  Dulac  have  well  expressed  the 
situation  from  an  international  point  of  view.  Speaking 
of  the  characteristics  which  marked  out  those  years,  the 
capacity  to  organize  industry  and  exploit  all  sources  of 
wealth,  they  observe  that : 

In  the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  it  was  Europe, 
and  amongst  the  European  Powers,  it  was  the  United  Kingdom 
of  Great  Britain  in  the  first  place  and  France  in  the  second  place, 
that  possessed  these  characteristics  in  the  most  eminent  degree. 
England  was  the  mistress  of  the  seas  ;  one  might  almost  say  that, 
politically,  the  century  which  stretched  between  1689  and  1789 
was  an  English  century.  She  had  conquered  the  Indies  ;  she 
reigned  over  the  whole  of  North  America;  she  had  begun  to 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

put  her  hand  upon  Canada  ;  she  had  commenced  to  colonize 
Australia,  Her  ports,  such  as  Liverpool  and  Bristol,  had  grown 
with  an  extreme  rapidity  ;  and  it  was  no  rare  thing  to  find  her 
wealthy  merchants  or  financiers  exercising  a  considerable  influ- 
ence in  the  House  of  Commons.  France,  though  less  prosperous, 
had  seen  Nantes,  Bordeaux,  and  Marseilles  enrich  themselves 
with  what  was  called  le  commerce  des  lies.  The  praise  of  commerce 
became  a  literary  commonplace.  Voltaire  expressed  this  normal 
view  when  he  wrote,  "  the  business  man  enriches  his  country, 
gives  from  his  counting-house  orders  to  Surat  and  Cairo,  and  con- 
tributes to  the  happiness  of  the  world."  Sedaine,  in  Le  philo- 
sophe  sans  le  savoir,  expresses  the  same  thought  when  he  says, 
"  there  is  not  a  people,  there  is  not  a  single  nation,  that  the  man 
of  business  does  not  benefit  ;  he  serves  all  and  is  served  by  all ; 
he  is  the  man  of  the  world  [I'homme  de  Punivers'\.^'  ^ 

As  in  the  case  of  the  Agrarian  Revolution,  we  must  admit 
that  if  man's  happiness  is  to  be  judged  by  the  multitude 
of  his  possessions  and  the  number  of  his  desires  the  course 
of  civilization  was  throughout  the  century  sharply  upward, 
but  the  changes  which  occurred,  the  displacements  which 
followed,  pressed  with  great  hardness  on  many  humble 
folk.  Those  who  can  only  hobble  are  ill-used  if  they  are 
compelled  to  race,  and  the  coming  of  machinery  brought 
with  it  new  problems  for  the  solution  of  which  neither  the 
classes  nor  the  masses  could  advance  any  practicable  plan. 

Meaning  of  the  Industrial  Revolution 

It  is  desirable,  in  the  first  place,  to  consider  what  is 
meant  by  the  Industrial  Revolution.  It  did  not  consist  in 
the  fact  that  from  1750  to  1840  and  onward  industry 
tended  to  become  more  and  more  an  organism  in  which 
many  men  served  masters.  As  we  have  seen,  as  early 
as  the  seventeenth  century  factories  employing  over  a 
thousand  hands  existed  on  the  Continent,  and  although  the 
generality  of  employers  had  but  few  employees  it  is  still 
correct  to  say  that  before  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 

1  We  translate  from  MM.  Renard  and  Dulac's  volume  entitled  V Evolu- 
tion tndusirielle  et  agricole  depuis  cent  cinquante  ans. 

196 


THE    INDUSTRIAL     REVOLUTION 

century  80  per  cent,  of  all  the  workers  in  industry  were 
employed  by  others.  As  M.  Mantoux  has  informed  us, 
organized  industry  on  a  large  scale  created  neither  the 
proletariat  nor  capitalism,  but  it  helped  to  complete  their 
evolution.    As  the  authors  of  The  Town  Labourer  put  it  : 

The  normal  worker  before  the  Industrial  Revolution  was  not 
an  independent  producer  in  the  full  meaning  of  the  term.  There 
were  persons  working  in  factories  before  this  period  ;  there  were 
many  more  working  for  capitalist  merchants,  on  whom  they 
were  entirely  dependent  for  the  supply  of  raw  materials  and  the 
marketing  of  the  product. 

Nor  is  the  labour  of  women  and  children  a  peculiar 
feature  of  industry  after  the  Industrial  Revolution.  From 
the  earliest  times  women  and  children  have  worked. 
Indeed,  in  the  early  ages  of  mankind  it  was  upon  them  that 
the  work  of  the  world  chiefly  fell,  and  both  in  agriculture 
and  in  industry  it  is  entirely  a  modern  phenomenon  to  find 
female  and  child  labour  being  restricted  and  subjected  to 
regulation.  In  the  old  days,  to  take  one  important  branch 
of  industry — the  making  of  textiles — the  spinning  was 
done  almost  entirely  by  women  and  children,  the  weaving 
of  the  yarn  by  men. 

Nor  is  it  peculiar  to  the  new  industrial  system  to  find 
the  workers  operating  in  cramped,  unhealthy,  and  un- 
suitable buildings.  It  was  a  natural  development  of 
pre-existing  conditions.  When  a  visitor  called  to  see 
Bamford's  father  and  ask  him  to  leave  his  domestic  loom 
and  undertake  the  management  of  the  manufactory  for 
cotton  goods  at  the  Manchester  workhouse  the  son  tells 
us  in  his  Early  Days  that  *'  my  father  was  called  up  from 
his  loom  in  the  cellar  where  he  was  at  work."  Many,  if 
not  all,  of  the  evils  of  environment  which  in  later  years  we 
associate  with  the  out-worker  were  present  in  the  case  of 
the  domestic  worker,  with  the  important  exception  that 
normally  the  domestic  worker  was  a  countryman,  and 
however  small  or  ill-adapted  his  workshop  might  be,  he  and 
his  wife  and  children  could  escape  from  it  and  while  away 
their  leisure  amid  the  green  fields  and  hills  and  dales. 

197 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

/  The  chief  differences  to  be  found  in  conditions  of  life 
C  before  and  after  the  change  are  due  to  the  following  causes : 
'^.(^l)  displacement  of  labour;  (2)  the  massing  together  of 
f  population ;  (3)  the  development  of  discipline ;  (4)  the 
I  speeding-up  of  work ;  (5)  the  destruction  of  leisure ;  (6) 
I  increased  competition  resulting  in  cutting  of  rates  of  pay. 

The  Standard  of  Life 

As  Gaskellj  writing  in  1836,  said: 

At  the  present  time  may  be  seen  a  daily  spread  of  knowledge, 
joined  to  a  gradual  depression  in  the  scale  of  social  enjoyments, 
vast  and  incessant  improvements  in  mechanical  contrivances,  all 
tending  to  overmatch  and  supersede  human  labour,  a  system  of    I 
toil  continued  unbroken  by  rest  or  relaxation  for  twelve  or  four-     ' 
teen  hours,  in  a  heated  mill,  and  an  utter  destruction  of  all  social      ■ 
and  domestic  relations.^  ^ 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  continued  to  ply  their  ! 

ancient    trade   in    competition    with    machinery    and    the  1 

new  unskilled  labour  found  that  the   cost  of  production  ' 
had  been  so  reduced  that  their  labour  no  longer  supplied 

them   with   the   barest   necessities.     We   find  it   stated  in  i 
1836  that  "  families,  comprising  nearly  one  million  human 

beings  dependent  on  hand-loom  weaving,  have  been  living  ' 

in   the  lowest  depths   of  poverty  for  years."     When   we  \ 

consider  the  change  in  the  prices  paid  for  the  weaving  of  [ 

a  particular  piece  of  cloth  between  the  years  1795  ^^'^  1830  i 
the  reason  for  this  destitution  becomes  obvious.     These 

prices  are  as  follows  :  ! 

j 
Price  for  Weaving  Cloth  I 


198 


Date 

Price 

is.         d.      ^ 

1795         • 

I   19     9 

1800 

I     5     0 

1810 

15     0 

1820 

8     0 

1830 

5     0 

^  Tie  Manufaciurin^ 

g-  Population  of  England. 

THE    INDUSTRIAL    REVOLUTION 

In  each  case  the  weaver  had  to  spend  a  certain  amount 
on  disbursements.  In  1 830  these  disbursements  amounted 
to  15.  id.^  so  that  the  worker  received  35.  <^d.  for  doing  what 
thirty-five  years  before  he  would  have  received  about  '^^^s. 
for,  and  even  in  1795  ^^^  ^^^  of  the  hand-loom  weaver 
was  not  roseate. 

Change  of  Status 

These  facts  are  mentioned  at  the  outset  in  order  to  show 
that  whatever  the  evils  of  the  system  might  be,  however 
much  the  domestic  worker  might  object  to  the  rough  and 
abrupt  change  that  he  was  compelled  to  make,  he  had  but 
little  option  in  the  matter.  He  had  either  to  fall  in  with 
the  new  order  of  things,  or  go  on  the  parish,  or  starve. 

In  truth,  the  old  skilled  hands,  so  far  as  spinning  and 
weaving  were  concerned,  were  the  last  to  be  absorbed. 
The  new  processes  required  comparatively  little  skill  and 
that  of  a  kind  different  from  the  old.  The  spinner  became 
to  a  considerable  extent  merely  a  machine-minder.  The 
same  sort  of  change  took  place  in  later  years  in  such 
skilled  trades  as  that  of  carpenter.  It  consequently  befell 
that  the  new  recruits  were  not  spinners  or  weavers  at  all, 
but  were  frequently, .  in  the  case  of  adults,  agricultural 
labourers,  and,  in  the  case  of  children,  workhouse  children, 
these  forming  the  cheapest  available  sources  of  labour. 

Growth   of  Population 

The  consequence  was  that  we  find  the  most  astonishing 
displacement  of  population ;  and  not  only  was  there  a 
displacement,  there  was  also  an  enormous  growth  in  the 
population.  The  reasons  for  this  growth,  which  was 
sudden,  are  obscure.  The  authors  of  The  Town  Labourer^ 
with  a  cynicism  which  is,  perhaps,  as  cynicism  usually  is, 
unfair  both  to  the  poor  and  to  the  rich,  consider  that  it  was 
due  to  three  causes:  (i)  under  the  existing  Poor  Law 
system  pay  greatly  depended,  as  we  have  seen,  on  the 
number  of  children  possessed  by  the  person  employed; 
(2)   child  labour  being  in   demand,  parents  had   children 


/ 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

in  order  to  exploit  them;  (3)  population  increases  with  a 
decline  in  the  standard  of  life,  or,  in  other  words,  the 
poorer  the  person  the  more  the  children  on  an  average. 

It  may  of  course  be  that  the  generality  of  men  were  so 
lost  to  all  sense  of  natural  fondness  for  their  offspring 
that  the  above  essentially  sordid  and  debased  motives 
actuated  them,  but  it  is  at  least  permissible  to  conjecture 
that  there  were  other  and  more  worthy  causes  at  work. 
The  improvement  in  medical  science  had  obviously  in- 
creased the  general  standard  of  health  so  that  of  those  born 
more  lived  to  reach  maturity  and  fewer  died  in  early  and 
middle  life.  Plagues  became  at  first  infrequent,  then  rare, 
and  then  non-existent.  Sanitary  conditions,  though  bad, 
were  better  than  they  had  been  in  the  medieval  period. 
Human  knowledge  had  for  at  least  two  centuries  been 
making  considerable  progress  in  the  conquest  of  disease 
and  pain.  These  facts  should  not  be  suppressed  even  for 
the  pleasure  of  painting  a  picture  exclusively  dark. 

Again,  the  anti-conceptional  practices  which  must  be 
presumed  to  exist  in  all  cases  where  the  birth-rate  is 
deliberately  kept  down  by  a  whole  people  (apart,  of  course, 
from  late  marriages  or  celibacy,  neither  of  which  at  any 
time  was  common  among  the  masses)  have  always  been 
opposed  by  the  followers  of  John  Wesley,  whose  teachings 
dominated,  it  might  almost  be  said,  the  religious  life  of 
the  working  classes  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth 
century  and  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  Slum 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  cause,  the  fact  is  certain 
that  the  population  rapidly  increased.  This,  in  con- 
junction with  the  displacement  of  population,  caused  towns 
to  become  cities  and  villages  to  become  towns  in  the  space 
of  a  few  years.  Houses,  ill-designed  and  ill-built,  were 
hurriedly  constructed.  Streets,  badly  laid  out,  incon- 
venient, dark,  and  unhealthy,  were  rapidly  formed.  The 
home  environment  of  the  worker  had  become  debased. 
The  slum  had  begun  to  exercise  its  vicious  influence,  not 
200 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    REVOLUTION 

occasionally  in  this  or  that  large  centre,  but  in  the  majority 
of  the  towns  and  cities  of  England.  The  evils  flowing 
from  the  slums  are  still  with  us,  and  during  the  last  cen- 
tury have  worked  incalculable  harm,  have  debased  to  no 
small  degree  the  moral  of  a  section  of  our  people,  have 
destroyed  character  and  health,  and  have  proved  festering 
sores  from  which  every  agitator  can  still  draw  his  phial 
of  infection. 

Displacement  of  Population 

At  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  whole  of 
the  urban  population  did  not  exceed  1,400,000.  London 
embraced  500,000,  Bristol  30,000,  Norwich  30,000, 
York  10,000,  Exeter  10,000,  Manchester  6000,  Sheflield 
4000,  and  Birmingham  4000.  By  1840  the  majority 
of  the  population  lived  in  towns  and  cities.  The 
rural  population  had  been  reduced  in  numbers  by  the 
Agrarian  Revolution,  while  the  vast  increase  in  the 
number  of  people  had  gone  exclusively  to  swell  the  towns. 
The  successive  development  of  the  textile,  the  iron,  and 
the  coal  trades  caused  large  masses  of  people  to  migrate 
to  Lancashire  and  the  West  Riding,  to  the  Black  Country 
and  the  coalfields.  Whereas  in  1 700,  apart  from  Middlesex, 
the  most  populous  counties  were  Somerset,  Gloucestershire, 
Wiltshire,  and  Nottinghamshire,  in  1800  the  most  populous 
were  Lancashire,  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  Stafford- 
shire, and  Warwickshire. 

There  was  even  a  revolution  within  the  revolution,  for 
whereas  at  first  the  earlier  machinery  was  driven  by  water- 
power,  causing  factories  to  spring  up  by  the  side  of 
running  streams,  the  application  of  the  steam  engine, 
which  had  just  been  developed  under  the  name  of  fire 
engine  for  the  purpose  of  pumping  water  from  collieries, 
to  the  driving  of  the  cotton  mills,  a  change  which  occurred 
in  the  decade  1 785-1 795,  caused  the  streams  in  turn  to 
be  abandoned,  and  tended  to  cause  factories  to  be  built 
near  the  large  centres  of  population  in  order  that  labour 
might  the  more  easily  be  obtained. 

201 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Industrial  Areas 

With  industry  largely  dependent  on  coal  and  iron,  we 
find  industrial  areas  developing.  Whole  districts  are 
devoted  to  the  same  trade  ;  cotton  absorbs  the  energies 
of  the  larger  part  of  Lancashire,  as  iron  does  those  of 
Staffordshire.  With  coal  now  so  much  in  demand  the 
coal-mining  industry  rapidly  grows,  while  the  application 
of  coke  for  smelting  purposes  and  improvements  in  the 
methods  of  casting  iron  and  steel  give  an  enormous  impetus 
to  the  metal  trades. 

The  result  of  these  changes  upon  the  lives  of  ordinary 
men,  women,  and  children  can  clearly  be  seen.  W^e  will 
take  as  an  example  the  case  of  a  commoner  having  his  share 
in  the  common  fields  and  his  rights  over  the  wastes  in 
some  manor  in  Somerset.  At  first  he  would  be  living 
frugally  as  a  small  peasant-proprietor.  An  enclosure  takes 
from  him  his  land  and  his  rights  over  the  waste  and  gives 
him  in  exchange  a  new  and  separate  holding.  He  struggles 
on,  combining  with  his  own  work,  as  in  the  past,  the  work 
of  weaving  the  yarn  his  wife  and  children  spin.  At  this 
stage  his  situation,  if  he  and  his  wife  are  industrious, 
thrifty  folk,  may  be  described  in  the  words  used  by 
Bamford  of  his  own  parents'  home : 

At  our  little  cottage  home,  everything  was  conducted  in  that 
plain,  thrifty  way  by  means  of  which  a  good  housewife  renders 
her  cottage  so  comfortable,  and  her  family  so  well  provided, 
out  of  comparatively  very  small  incomings.  Our  fare  was  of  i 
the  simplest  kind,  and  far  from  profuse,  whilst  our  clothing, 
though  cleanly  and  well  mended,  was  such  as  would  raise  a  smile 
amongst  the  mothers  of  these  days  [1848J;  big  boys,  as  well  as 
big  girls,  very  frequently  wearing  their  infantile  skirts  until  they 
became  kilts,  and  these,  too,  not  of  the  longest.^ 

The  whole  family  above  infancy  would  still  work  on 
their  little  patch  of  land  and  at  the  spinning  and  weaving,  i 
neither   branch  of  their  industry  being  capable  alone  of  | 
supporting  them.     Then  occur  the  changes  brought  about   ; 

^  Early  Dap. 
202  \ 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    REVOLUTION 

by  the  development  of  machinery.  The  man  finds  that 
the  price  he  formerly  obtained  for  his  work  is  reduced  to 
a  half,  a  quarter,  an  eighth.  The  time  comes  when  he 
has  to  decide  to  abandon  all  his  old  mode  of  life,  leave  the 
old  cottage,  sell  his  land,  and  migrate  to  the  great  towns 
where  the  invisible  force  is  at  work  which  has  reached  out 
its  hand  to  him  in  Somerset  and  has  snatched  from  him 
and  his  their  livelihood. 

Or,  again,  we  can  imagine  the  squatter  turned  agri- 
cultural labourer  with  the  enclosing  of  the  wastes  on  which 
he  had  formerly  lived.  His  wages,  despite  the  high  price 
of  corn,  are  desperately  small.  He  hears  of  the  new 
means  of  earning  wages,  which,  judged  by  his  standard, 
seem  wealth  indeed.  He  and  his  wife,  with  rustic  phlegm, 
talk  over  the  subject  for  weeks.  At  last  the  time  comes 
when  their  mind  is  made  up  and  they  too  say  good-bye  to 
the  countryside  and  join  the  new  hive. 

In  the  cases  we  have  given  there  is  change,  there  is 
hope,  there  are  prospects.  Sometimes  the  new  recruits 
become  wealthy  and  prosperous  manufacturers — not  in 
the  old  sense  of  workers  by  hand,  but  in  the  new  sense 
of  employers  of  labour  devoted  to  making  goods  ;  there 
is  even  some  semblance  of  choice;  but  in  the  third  kind 
of  case  we  can  picture  there  is  no  choice,  no  hope,  no 
prospects  discernible.  The  pauper  children,  the  miserable 
workhouse  orphans,  the  unhappy  mites  on  whose  labour 
the  new  order  of  industry  at  first  was  founded,  were  dis- 
posed of.  They  went  where  they  were  told,  they  worked  as 
they  were  bid. 

Change 

As  Archdeacon  Cunningham  in  his  Growth  of  English 
Industry  and  Commerce  says  : 

The  whole  face  of  the  country  was  changed  by  the  Industrial 
Revolution.  In  1770  there  was  no  Black  Country,  blighted  by 
the  conjunction  of  coal  and  iron  trades  ;  there  were  no  canals, 
or  railways,  and  no  factory  towns  with  their  masses  of  popula- 
tion.    The  differentiation  of  town  and  country  had   not  been 

203 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

carried  nearly  so  far  as  it  is  to-day.  All  the  familiar  features  of 
our  modern  life,  and  all  its  most  pressing  problems,  have  come 
to  the  point  within  the  last  century  and  a  quarter. 

The  introduction  of  machinery,  rendered  possible  not 
simply  by  a  suddenly  developed  inventiveness,  but  by 
social  and  economic  movements  which  had  been  gathering 
momentum  for  centuries,  caused  not  merely  a  replace- 
ment of  skilled  by  unskilled  labour  and  a  displacement 
of  population  from  country  to  town,  with  the  resulting 
separation  of  the  industrial  population  from  the  soil  and 
the  herding  together  of  masses  of  human  beings,  it  also 
induced  an  instability  in  commerce  and  in  life  not  hitherto 
experienced. 

The  Landless  Worker 

The  whole  of  industrial  society  was  in  the  melting  pot. 
Sometimes  a  body  of  workers  found  their  means  of  liveli- 
hood destroyed  in  consequence  of  machine  competition. 
Such  were,  for  instance,  the  calico-printers,  who  were 
thrown  out  of  employment  by  the  invention  of  the  calico- 
printing  machine.  Other  bodies  of  skilled  craftsmen 
found  themselves  working  in  competition,  partly  with 
machinery  and  partly  with  unskilled  labour.  Such,  for 
example,  were  the  hand-loom  weavers.  Machinery  had 
so  increased  the  supply  of  yarn  that  many  new  weavers 
originally  unskilled  were  given  an  opportunity  of  employ- 
ment. Owing  to  trade  fluctuations  prices  dropped,  an , 
excess  of  labour  resulted,  wages  were  cut,  and  grave 
suffering  was  caused.  To  what  extent  rates  were  cut  in 
the  weaving  of  cloth  we  have  already  seen. 

Of  course  in  past  times  there  had  been  sudden  fluctua- 
tions, there  had  been  times  of  plenty  and  of  dearth,  but 
now  an  entirely  new  feature  was  apparent.  The  worker 
was  dependent  exclusively  upon  his  employment  and  upon 
his  earnings.  The  land  no  longer  knew  him.  He  could 
no  longer  eke  out  his  slender  resources  with  the  products 
of  his  own  agricultural  labour.  In  bad  times  he  fell 
204 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    REVOLUTION 

almost  of  necessity  into  the  unfriendly  arms  of  the  Poor 
Law  system.  The  old  gild  brotherhood  had  gone  or,  if 
still  living,  had  no  place  for  the  new  race  of  machine- 
tenders.  The  newly  arising  Friendly  and  Benefit  Societies 
had  not  yet  grown  to  considerable  proportions,  though 
already,  before  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  their 
good  effect  was  being  felt.  The  new  master,  usually  a 
man  of  humble  origin,  prepared  to  work  himself  and  others 
like  slaves,  had  neither  the  desire  nor  the  power  to  act  the 
part  of  the  friendly  squire  and  see  to  the  needs  of  his 
dependents  in  times  of  dearth.  Charity  tended  to  be 
restricted  to  the  Poor  Law.  Great  bodies  of  men,  perhaps 
for  the  first  time  in  human  history,  though  worthy,  hard- 
working, and  sober,  could  fall  into  hopeless  indigence, 
could  see  their  families  starve,  could  inhabit  cellars,  could 
be  pressed  by  all  the  miseries  of^  want  and  be  assailed  by  all 
the  horrors  of  despair,  withoutjt^heir  plight  being  known 
to,  cared  for,  or  relieved  by  those  others  who  in  the  same 
town  and  as  a  result  of  the  same  causes  were  rising  into 
affluence. 

Material  Gains 

We  must  not,  however,  be  led  astray  into  painting  a 
picture  that  is  wholly  dark.  It  is  a  fatal  mistake  to  regard 
the  very  real  evils  which  sprang  from  the  Industrial 
Revolution  as  material  evils.  It  was  not  that  the  poor 
became  poorer  and  the  rich  richer,  for  in  truth  it  was  not 
so.  The  whole  tendency  from  the  dawn  of  the  Industrial 
Revolution  to  the  present  day  has  been  for  the  average 
standard  of  life  to  improve  so  far  as  material  resources  are 
concerned. 

It  is  true  that,  owing  partly  to  war  conditions,  partly 
to  the  growth  of  a  spirit  of  commercial  adventurousness, 
partly  to  the  business  world  being  but  slightly  acquainted 
with  the  new  forces  which  it  was  controlling,  and  partly 
to  the  general  instability  of  society,  financial  crises  were 
of  somewhat  constant  occurrence.  The  black  years  of 
the  early  nineties  of  the  eighteenth  century  are  reproduced 

205 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

for  us  in   Bamford's   Early  Days.     The   common   rhyme 
which  runs :  I 

Our  masters  play  us  roguish  pranks;  i 

Our  bankrupt  bankers  close  their  banks; 

Which  makes  our  wives  and  children  cry, 

But  times  shall  alter  by-and-bye, 

expresses  at  once  that  fear  and  that  hope  which  were  ever  j 
present  with  the  working  man  of  the  period.  { 

But  though  such  financial  crises,  in  conjunction  with 
the  replacement  and  displacement  of  labour,  caused  great 
suffering,  the  general  tendency,  on  the  material  side,  was  \ 
upward.  One  of  the  great  lessons  that  may  be  learnt  : 
from  the  Industrial  Revolution  is  indeed  this,  that  man's  '• 
happiness  does  not  depend  upon  material  resources.  It  ' 
is  a  phenomenon  worthy  of  notice  that  as  man's  control  \ 
of  matter  improved,  his  dependence  on  material  things  I 
increased.  While  being  master  he  insensibly  became  the  \ 
slave.  i 

Spiritual  Losses  ' 

Indeed,  in  calculating  the  gains  and  losses  resulting  i 
from  the  factory  system  as  a  universal  system  affecting  i 
practically  the  whole  of  the  working  population,  it  is  i 
necessary  to  regard  the  lives  rather  than  the  incomes  of  i 
men.  On  the  whole,  and  even  while  the  Industrial  I 
Revolution  was  still  incomplete,  the  wages,  the  real  wages,  j 
were  higher  than  they  had  been  in  olden  days,  but,  on  the  ; 
other  hand,  the  lives  of  the  workers  were  more  bleak,  due  i 
partly  to  the  massing  together  of  population  in  at  best : 
inartistic,  and  at  worst  horrible,  environments,  and  partly  ; 
to  the  speeding-up  of  work,  the  development  of  discipline,  | 
and  the  destruction  of  leisure. 

The  life  of  the  working  man,  his  wife,  and  family  became  i 
for  a  season  a  life  of  work.  Fate  appeared  to  have  nothing  | 
else  to  offer  them.  Uneducated,  for  as  late  as  1830  but  a  \ 
small  percentage  of  the  people  could  read  or  write,  they  1 
were  shut  out  from  many  of  the  higher  enjoyments  of  life ;  I 
206 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    REVOLUTION 

with  long  hours  of  work  at  high  pressure  they  had  but  Httle 
energy  for  those  innocent  exercises  which  are  a  relief  to 
both  the  body  and  the  mind.  The  domestic  relations  were 
strained  by  the  early  age  at  which  work  commenced.  The 
new  kinds  of  employment,  simple  in  nature  and  not  calling 
for  much  physical  strength,  were,  indeed,  possible  for 
children,  and  child  labour  was  eagerly  sought  after. 

The  Workhouse  Child 

At  first  the  workhouse  was  the  main  source  of  supply, 
both  for  the  factories  and  for  the  mines.  In  the  debate 
on  the  Parochial  Schools  Bill  introduced  by  Whitbread 
in  1807,  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  incidentally  remarked  that 
it  was  then  the  practice  to  send  parish  apprentices  as 
great  a  distance  as  possible,  to  some  place  where  they 
had  no  friends  who  could  attend  to  their  situation.  In 
some  parishes  in  London  it  was  the  custom  to  send  the 
parish  children  to  the  distance  of  some  hundreds  of  miles 
and  to  contract  with  the  proprietors  of  the  cotton  mills 
of  Lancashire  and  other  factory  areas  for  so  many  of 
them,  who  were  then  sent  off  "in  carts  like  so  many 
negro  slaves." 

Even  as  late  as  the  forties  of  last  century  it  is  manifest 
from  the  reports  of  the  Commissioners  who  sat  to  inquire 
into  the  working  of  the  mines  that  parish  child  labour  was 
still  being  exploited  in  the  most  inhumane  manner. 

Child  Labour 

As  the  pressure  of  competition  increased  by  the  con- 
tinuous trek  of  the  rustic  workers  to  the  towns  and  by  the 
growth  of  population,  the  tendency  became  more  and  more 
marked  for  parents  to  permit  or  to  force  their  children 
to  work  from  very  early  ages,  both  in  the  mills  and  in  the 
mines. 

Examples  are  known  of  children  commencing  work  in 
the  mines  at  four  years  of  age.  This  matter  will  be 
considered  in  a  later  chapter,  but  it  may  be  interesting  to 
reproduce  the  account  given   before  Hume's  Committee 

207 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

by  a  child  of  twelve  of  his  average  day.     The  quotation 
reproduces  the  boy's  own  words : 

Am  twelve  years  old.  Have  been  in  the  mill  twelve  months. 
Begin  at  six  o'clock  and  stop  at  half-past  seven.  Generally 
have  about  twelve  hours  and  a  half  of  it.  Have  worked  over- 
hours  for  two  or  three  weeks  together.  Worked  breakfast-time 
and  tea-time,  and  did  not  go  away  till  eight. 

Q. — Do  you  work  over-hours  or  not,  just  as  you  like  ? 

J. — No  ;  them  as  works  must  work.  I  would  rather  stay 
and  do  it  than  that  anybody  else  should  come  in  my  place.  I 
should  lose  the  money. 

Q. — If  over-hours  are  put  on  next  week,  shall  you  be  glad  or 
sorry  ? 

y/. — It  won't  signify.     I  shall  be  neither  glad  nor  sorry. 

Q. — Don't  you  play  sometimes  after  work  is  over  ? 

^. — Yes,  sometimes. 

Q. — Well,  are  you  not  sorry  to  lose  that  ? 

j4. — No,  I  don't  mind  about  it.  I  had  rather  work  as  I  do  j 
than  lose  any  of  my  wages.  I  go  to  a  Sunday  school  sometimes,  i 
I  went  first  about  a  month  ago.  I  have  been  every  Sunday  since,  i 
I  can  only  read  in  the  alphabet  yet.  I  mean  to  go  regular,  i 
There  is  no  reason  why  I  should  not.     I  wants  to  be  a  scholar,    i 

Hours  of  Labour 

From  the  Report  of  the  Factories  Inquiry  Commission,  ! 
which  sat  in  1833,  it  appears  that  in  Scotland  in  general  ; 
the  hours  of  labour  for  children  were  twelve  to  twelve  ! 
and  a  half  hours,  though  in  some  districts  they  were  not  i 
less  than  thirteen  hours  a  day  for  six  days  in  the  week,  j 
Saturday's  short  time  being  made  up  on  other  days.  In  i 
the  North-east  of  England  the  average  was  eleven  hours,  in  \ 
Leicester,  Nottingham,  and  Manchester  twelve,  in  Leeds  I 
eleven,  and  in  Birmingham  and  Coventry  ten,  or  some-  ] 
times  nine,  but  as  the  Commissioners  found  in  Coventry  \ 
and  Birmingham,  "  there  is  no  factory  labour,  properly  so  i 
called,  for  the  operatives,  with  few  exceptions,  work  at  j 
their  own  houses." 

As  regards  the  adults,  the  hours  of  labour  were  some-  ! 
times  more  and  sometimes  less  on  the  average  than  the   • 

208  ! 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    REVOLUTION 

hours  for  children.  Thus,  in  some  of  the  coalfields  the 
children  laboured  from  one  to  two  hours  longer  than  their 
parents. 

Distress 

In  times  of  depression,  such  as  followed  the  termina- 
tion of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  the  long  hours,  combined 
with  low  wages  and  bad  conditions,  induced  a  condition 
of  affairs  that  was  truly  lamentable.  Thus  in  Hansard 
for  1 8 1 9  we  have  preserved  for  us  the  statement  signed 
by  1 200  of  the  cotton  weavers  of  Carlisle,  which,  in  the 
words  of  the  member  who  brought  it  to  the  attention  of 
the  House, 

discloses  a  state  of  suffering  which  cannot  fail  of  commanding 
the  pity  and  commiseration  of  all  within  and  without  these  walls. 
They  represent  that,  on  working  from  fourteen  to  seventeen 
hours  a  day,  and  that  for  six  days  in  the  week,  their  earnings  do 
not  amount  to  more  than  from  five  to  seven  shillings,  and  that 
many  of  them  can  obtain  no  work  whatever.  They  state  their 
families  to  be  destitute  of  food  and  clothing,  and  a  prey  to  misery 
and  disease.  .  .  .  They  blame  not  their  employers ;  the  depre- 
ciated state  of  the  cotton  industry  is  the  true  cause  of  their 
sufferings.  In  despair  of  obtaining  bread  at  home  they  ask  you 
to  expatriate  them,  to  convey  them  to  your  colonies. 

That  is  a  picture  of  life  when  times  were  bad.  It  is 
a  picture  which,  though  evil,  was  not  as  dark  as  could  be 
drawn  of  the  state  of  affairs  in  rural  England  in  the  time 
of  the  Tudors,  when,  in  a  period  of  similar  depression, 
thousands  of  industrious  folk  had  been  driven  into  beggary 
and  from  beggary  to  the  gallows.  It  is  also  a  picture 
of  a  transition  stage,  for  it  is  manifest  that  as  the  factory 
system  became  more  and  more  fully  organized,  as  great 
and  wealthy  industrial  concerns  grew  into  a  condition 
of  financial  security,  so  the  lot  of  the  workers  improved, 
though  it  long  continued  to  be  a  fact  that  the  conditions 
of  labour  were  fixed  by  a  standard  set,  not  by  the  best,  but 
by  the  worst,  employers. 

o  209 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  l 

The  Factory 

It  is  obvious  from  a  perusal  of  the  evidence  of  Hume's 
Committee  that  already  the  more  enlightened  employers 
were  beginning  to  consider  the  welfare  of  their  employees. 
It  was  found  that 

the  greatest  number  of  bad  cases  occur  in  the  small,  obscure 
mills  belonging  to  the  smallest  proprietors,  and  that  the  bad 
treatment  of  children  is  inflicted  by  violent  and  dissipated  work- 
men, often  the  very  men  who  raise  the  loudest  cry  about  the 
cruelties  to  which  children  are  subject  in  factories. 

Speaking  of  one  of  these  factories  a  witness  said,  **  It 
seemed  more  to  resemble  a  receptacle  of  demons  than  a 
workhouse  of  industrious  human  beings." 

On    the    other    hand,    the    pioneers    of   proper    factory 

management    were    beginning   to    cut  out   a    better    path. 

While  the  reports  of  the  old  and  small  mills  disclosed  a 

uniform  condition  of  dirt  and  danger,  without  ventilation 

or  drainage  or  conveniences  for  washing  or  dressing,  with  J 

low  roofs  and  narrow  passages  and  unguarded  machinery'',  •' 

the    later   factories    were    superior   in    every    respect.      In   j 

certain    examples,    such    as    the    Deanston    Cotton    Mill  j 

Factory  in  Perthshire,  not  only  the  factory,  but  the  houses   j 

in  which  the  workers  lived,  had  been  designed  with  an  eye   j 

to  the  well-being  of  the  operatives.      In  the  words  of  the   \ 

inspector : 

I 
I  can  hardly  say  whether  the  construction  of  those  houses,  or    i 

the  ingenious  contrivances  with  a  view  to    the  conveniences  of  I 

the  people  which  Mr  Smith  has  put  into  execution,  or  the  clean-  i 

ness  and  neatness  with  which  the  interiors  of  those  nice  cottages  I 

are  kept  by  the  workers,  are  the  most  to  be  admired.     There  are  ! 

bits  of  garden  ground  attached  to  each  of  the  houses.   .   .   .  The  i 

whole  arrangements  about  this  extensive  factory,  at  which  cotton-  | 

spinning,  power- weaving,  iron-founding,  and  machine-making  are  i 

carried  on,  are  obviously  made  with  a  view,  as  far  as  possible,  to  j 
the  substantial  comfort  of  the  people  ;  and  a  more  cheerful,  happy- 
looking  set  of  industrious  men  and  women,  and  of  young  people, 
is  seldom,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  to  be  found. 
2IO 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    REVOLUTION 

But  as  yet,  for  we  are  speaking  of  the  period  up  to 
1840,  such  examples  were  unhappily  rare.  Even  such 
employers  as  John  Fielden  and  Craig,  who  believed  that 
hours  should  be  reduced  and  who  employed  over  a 
thousand  hands,  felt  that  individual  effort  toward  the 
betterment  of  working  conditions  was  impossible  without 
Parliamentary  assistance.  As  we  shall  see,  in  time  the 
legislature  was  persuaded  to  move,  but  not  until  after  a 
long  and  bitter  struggle,  during  which  time  much  useless 
misery  was  suffered  by  the  working  population. 

Attitude  of  the  Unreformed  Parliament 

The  attitude  of  Parliament  at  this  period  is,  indeed, 
only  explicable  on  the  ground  that  the  governing  classes 
regarded  the  masses  as  a  distinct  species  planted  around 
them  by  a  Fate  which  had  destined  them  to  work  and  ask 
no  questions.  The  small  boy's  philosophy,  which  was 
summed  up  in  the  words,  "  them  as  works  must  work," 
was  applauded  by  the  elders  of  the  State,  for  it  was  also 
their  philosophy  of  life  for  others.  We  get  a  good  picture 
of  the  attitude  of  Parliament  in  the  speech  of  Mr  Davies 
Giddy  on  the  Parochial  Schools  Bill,  when  he  said : 

However  specious  in  theory  the  project  might  be,  of  giving 
education  to  the  labouring  classes  of  the  poor,  it  would,  in  effect, 
be  found  to  be  prejudicial  to  their  morals  and  happiness  ;  it  would 
teach  them  to  despise  their  lot  in  life,  instead  of  making  them 
good  servants  in  agriculture  and  other  laborious  employments  to 
which  their  rank  in  society  has  destined  them  ;  instead  of  teaching 
them  subordination,  it  would  render  them  factious  and  refractory, 
as  was  evident  in  the  manufacturing  counties,  it  would  enable 
them  to  read  seditious  pamphlets,  vicious  books,  and  publications 
against  Christianity. 

It  might,  indeed,  have  been  thought  that  even  the 
ability  to  read  would  not  enable  "  the  labouring  classes 
of  the  poor  "  to  understand  a  Christianity  which  in  its 
age-long  course  had  strayed  so  far  from  the  path  cut  for 
it  by  its  Founder.      It  seemed  that  Condorcet's  prophecies 

21  I 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

for  the  future,  made  but  a  little  while  before  when  hiding 
from  the  guillotine/  were  not  likely  soon  to  be  fulfilled. 
He  had  thought  that  the  future  would  bring:  (i)  des- 
truction of  inequality  between  nations  as  regards  freedom 
and  rights ;  (2)  destruction  of  inequality  between  classes 
also  as  regards  freedom  and  rights ;  (3)  the  improvement 
of  individuals  intellectually,  morally,  and  physically. 

The  attitude  of  Parliament  toward  the  poor  which  is 
apparent  in  the  debates  of  the  later  eighteenth  and  earlier 
nineteenth  century  was  no  new  thing.  The  publication 
of  debates  made  it  more  apparent.  In  truth,  however,  it 
was  no  worse,  perhaps  it  was  better,  than  it  hitherto  had 
been.  Thorold  Rogers  is  probably  justified  in  saying  that 
"from  1563  to  1824  a  conspiracy,  concocted  by  the  law 
and  carried  out  by  parties  interested  in  its  success,  was 
entered  into,  to  cheat  the  English  workman  of  his  wages, 
to  tie  him  to  the  soil,  to  deprive  him  of  hope,  and  to  degrade 
him  into  irremediable  poverty,"  except  that  the  whole 
tendency  of  the  Enclosure  Act  legislation  was  to  drive  thej 
peasant  from  the  land  and  into  agricultural  or  other  labour. 

The  Feudal  Spirit 

The  governing  classes   were  hardly  influenced   by  the 
Industrial   Revolution.     The  arrogance,   the  disdain,   the 
absence  of  sympathy,   the  lack  of  understanding  shown 
by  the  Houses  of  Parliament  when  considering  measures 
which  affected  the  working  classes  during  this  period    do  i 
not  spring  from  any  development  of  the  capitalistic  spirit.  | 
Rather  they  are  emanations  of  the  feudal  spirit.    As  yet,  ^ 
though     financiers,    merchants,    and    manufacturers    were  ' 
beginning  to  stand  for  Parliament,  the  vast  majority  ofj 
the  seats  in  the  Commons,  and  practically  all  the  seats  in  i 
the  Lords,  were  in  the  hands  of  the  old  nobility  who  were 
untouched  by  the  Industrial  Revolution,  for  though  some 
few  peers  took  an  active  interest  in  the  exploitation  of  the  j 
mineral  wealth  of  their  land  and  devoted  some  attention  ' 

^  He  was  shortly  afterward  flung  into  prison  by  the  supporters  of  freedom  1 
and  equality  in  France,  and  died  possibly  of  the  effects  of  starvation.  i 

212 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    REVOLUTION 

to  the  new  industrial  methods,  they  formed  but  a  small 
minority. 

It  consequently  befell  that  even  as  the  standard  of 
factory  life  was  set  by  the  worst  instead  of  by  the  best 
employers,  those  who  desired  Parliament  to  improve  the 
lot  of  the  working  population  had  of  necessity  to  rely 
upon  a  feudal  body  saturated  not  with  the  new,  but  with 
the  old  ideas  as  to  the  relationship  of  man  to  master. 
Such  a  body  had  no  experience  of  the  new  conditions, 
no  sympathy  with  the  new  industrialist  or  his  master. 
Members  looked  down  upon  the  generality  of  men  from 
the  height  of  their  Olympian  wisdom — and  did  nothing. 
Occasionally  they  moved.  Sometimes  sedition  required 
suppressing,  sometimes  crime  had  to  be  looked  to,  some- 
times the  policing  of  the  country  gave  rise  to  disquiet, 
occasionally  outrageous  cases  of  misery  called  for  a 
momentary  remark,  at  times  the  masters  were  supported — 
but  the  Houses  of  Parliament  did  not  concern  themselves 
to  any  considerable  extent  with  the  needs  of  the  people. 

The  Lords  and  the  Chimney-sweeps 

The  attitude  of  Parliament  may  be  well  seen  in  the  case 
of  the  chimney-sweeps'  boys.  The  wrongs  which  the 
chimney-sweeps'  boys  suffered  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  Industrial  Revolution.  They  had  doubtless  been 
wrongs  that  had  been  suffered  ever  since  chimneys  had 
been  built  in  this  country — that  is  to  say,  from  the  Tudor 
times.  But  the  activities  of  certain  humanitarians  had 
resulted  in  the  appointment  of  a  Committee  of  Enquiry 
in  1 8 17,  when,  for  the  first  time,  the  wrongs  suffered  by 
these  children  became  generally  known.  It  was  found  that 
a  terrible  state  of  affairs  existed  ;  that  the  28  Geo.  Ill, 
a  regulating  Act,  was  practically  a  dead  letter,  that 
the  eight-year  age  limit  was  ignored,  and  that  infants 
of  four,  five,  and  six  years  were  being  employed  in  the 
dangerous  and  difficult  work  of  cleaning  chimneys  by 
climbing  up  them  and  sweeping  them  with  a  brush. 

It   was   given   in   evidence,   and   found   proved  by  the 

213 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Committee,  that  many  of  these  children  were  obtained  by 
kidnapping  or  were  inveigled  out  of  workhouses ;  that  in 
order  to  conquer  the  natural  repugnance  of  the  infants  to 
ascend  the  narrow  and  dangerous  chimneys,  they  were 
usually  beaten,  or  pins  were  forced  into  their  feet,  or 
lighted  straw  used  to  compel  them  either  to  climb  or 
succumb.  It  was  found  that  children  were  used  to  sweep 
flues  seven  inches  square,  and  that  consequently  the 
children  had  to  be  very  thin,  and,  of  course,  had  to  work 
naked ;  that  they  were  subject  to  sores  and  bruises  and  j 
wounds  and  burns  on  their  thighs,  knees,  and  elbows.  ) 

It  was  also  found  that  twelve  years  before  Smart  had  ; 
invented  a  sweeping  brush  that  rendered  this  particular  \ 
form  of  labour  unnecessary  except  in  very  rare  cases  of 
complicated   flues   which   could   be   mechanically  swept  if 
registers  were  adopted.  ; 

Here,  then,  it  would  seem,  was  a  case  where  Parliament  j 
could  safely  act.  The  Commons  passed  the  Chimney-  1 
sweepers  Regulation  Bill.  The  House  of  Lords  debated  i 
it.  The  Earl  of  Lauderdale,  who  obviously  knew  nothing  ] 
about  chimneys,  sweeps,  or  boys,  observed  that ;  ' 

If  machinery  were  to  be  employed,  boys  would  still  be  exposed  i 
to  as  much  danger  as  they  were  hitherto.  He  objected  to  this  i 
Bill  because  it  was  not  fit  for  the  Legislature  to  lay  down  rules 
of  humanity  to  individuals  ;  because,  by  doing  so,  the  very  j 
principles  of  humanity  w^ould  be  rooted  up  :  far  greater  cruelties  ] 
would  then  be  practised  than  any  which  the  Bill  meant  to  provide  \ 
against.  It  was  impossible,  without  great  injustice  and  public  ' 
inconvenience,  for  their  lordships  to  legislate  on  subjects  of  this  ; 
kind.  It  was  somewhat  of  the  same  nature  with  the  Bill  for  i 
regulating  the  labour  of  children  in  cotton  factories  ;  and  with  I 
the  poor  laws.  These  latter  originated  in  a  mistaken  spirit  of 
humanity,  the  attempt  to  enforce  which  by  law  had  produced  j 
effects  the  very  opposite  of  those  which  were  intended.  i 

Even  Lord  King,  who  supported,  did  so  on  the  ground 
that   the    Bill    met    with    the   concurrence   of  the    master 
chimney-sweeps.     The   Lords   were,   however,   unable   to  j 
agree  with  either  the  masters,  or  the  Committee,  or  the  I 
214  j 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    REVOLUTION 

Commons.  The  Bill  was  rejected  by  32  to  12.  England 
was  made  safe  for  '  humanity.'  The  children  were  for- 
gotten. 

It  was  not  until  1834  that  the  4  and  5  Will.  IV,  c.  2Sy  was 
passed,  limiting  the  age  of  sweeping  boys  and  providing 
certain  safeguards  in  the  case  of  apprentices — safeguards 
which  did  not  appeal  to  Charles  Dickens  as  being  very 
efficient.  Sixteen  years  later  the  3  and  4  Vic,  c.  85,  which 
was  amended  in  1864,  practically  brought  the  use  of  child 
labour  for  sweeping  chimneys  to  an  end. 

These  later  Acts  were  passed,  like  so  many  other  factory 
and  social  Acts,  after  the  Reform  Act  had  sensibly  modified 
the  structure  of  Parliament.  In  the  pre-Reform  Parlia- 
ments it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that,  apart  from  occasional 
philanthropists  and  humanitarians  (usually  business  men 
or  lawyers),  nobody  cared  what  became  of  the  people  as 
long  as  the  people  behaved  themselves.  It  followed  that 
the  Industrial  Revolution  worked  itself  out  in  an  un- 
fortunate atmosphere  in  which  the  good  master  had  far 
less  chance  of  making  his  voice  heard  than  the  bad  master. 
Such  improvements  as  were  from  time  to  time  effected 
were  brought  about  solely  by  agitation  by  advanced  men 
of  all  parties  or  by  organized  action  on  the  part  of  the 
workers — a  form  of  activity  which,  as  we  shall  see,  was 
gravely  restricted  and  almost  entirely  destroyed  for  many 
years  by  the  Combination  Laws. 

It  consequently  befell  that  organized  industry  became, 
as  it  were,  pock-marked  with  various  evils  which  men  came 
to  look  upon  as  natural  attributes  instead  of  what  in  truth 
they  were,  the  consequences  of  non-natural  and  diseased 
conditions.  An  attitude  of  mind  grew  up  in  which  the 
man  was  regarded  as  a  subject  for  exploitation  and  in  which 
the  master  was  regarded  as  an  exploiter.  The  best  masters 
saw  otherwise ;  they  fought  hard  for  their  main  aims ; 
little  by  little  they  obtained  the  recognition  of  the  principles 
for  which  they  fought — the  right  to  a  living  wage,  proper 
environment,  education,  good  sanitary  conditions,  decent 
houses,  and  protection  against  unmerited  poverty.     For  the 

215 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  j 

last  seventy  years  the  number  of  those  who  have  supported 
these  views  has  grown.     Throughout  the  greater  part  of 
that  period  the  government  of  the  country  has  been  mainly 
in  the  hands  of  the  middle  and  capitalistic  classes.     Within 
that  seventy  years  more  has  been  done  to  improve  the  lot  ] 
of  the  working  man  than  was  done  throughout  the  rest  of  | 
our   history,   though   that   history   be  taken   back  to  the   ■ 
Neolithic  period.      T/ie  opposition  is  not  between  the  worker  j 
and  the  capitalist ;  it  is  between  the  man  who  works^  who  suffers^ 
who  experiences,  who  knows,  and  the  man  who  never  worksy  J 
never  suffers,  never  experiences,  and  never  knows. 


2l6 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    RISE    OF   TRADE    UNIONISM 

A  S  Professor  Marshall  observes  in  his  Economics  of 
/\  Industry,  "  a  combination  of  a  thousand  workers 
X  ^has  a  very  weak  and  uncertain  force  in  comparison 
with  that  of  a  single  resolute  employer  of  a  thousand  men." 
But  if  the  combination  of  a  thousand  be  weak  the  authority 
and  force  of  units  are  completely  negligible.  The  social 
reorganization  brought  about  by  the  Industrial  Revolu- 
tion, the  break-up  of  the  gilds,  the  distress  experienced 
by  the  working  classes,  and  the  oppression  exercised  by 
a  new  type  of  master,  ruthless  in  his  pursuit  of  wealth, 
made  it  apparent  even  to  the  workers  of  the  eighteenth 
century  that  for  effective  action  to  be  taken  organization 
was  necessary.     In  the  words  of  Sir  Sydney  Chapman  : 

Trade  unionism,  broadly  conceived,  emerged  from  the  general 
economic  restlessness  which  inaugurated  the  Industrial  Revolu- 
tion. Whether  in  all  cases  or  not  a  gulf  lay  between  the  com- 
binations of  the  old  order  and  those  of  the  new,  trade  unions 
marked  a  distinct  break  with  tradition. 

The  aims  were  different,  the  modes  of  pressing  those 
aims  were  different,  even  the  needs  for  combination  were 
different  from  the  aims,  modes,  and  needs  present  to  the 
gild  brethren. 

The  Standard  of  Life 

From  very  early  times  it  had  been  recognized  that  on 
the  one  hand  the  worker  was  entitled  to  a  reasonable 
standard  of  life,  a  standard  varying  with  the  period  and, 
in  general  tending  upward  with  the  passing  of  the  years, 
and  that  on  the  other  some  means  were  necessary  in  order 
to  protect  the  worker  against  that  free  play  of  competition 

217 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

which,  if  left  completely  unfettered,  could  but  result  in  the 

standard  of  life  being  at  best  a  fluctuating  and  at  worst  a  ; 

degraded  standard.  i 

During  the  earlier  ages  of  organized  and  free  industry  i 

there  was,  as  we  have  seen,  no  clear-cut  line  severing  master  i 

and   servant,   employer  and   employed,    and   the   interests  ; 

of  the  two  classes  tending  thus  as  they  did  to  merge  were  \ 

adequately  protected  by  organizations  which  to-day  would  i 

be  regarded  as  employers'  associations — the  gilds.      With  i 

the  increase  of  poverty  and  pauperism  due  to  the  economic  i 

changes  of  the  sixteenth   century,   and   with   the  gradual  i 

widening  of  the   breach  which    separates   the    employing  i 

from   the   employed   classes,    a    new   movement   becomes  ; 

apparent  in  the  legislation  of  the  Tudors  in  England  and,  i 

in  a  lesser  degree,  in  the  administrative  activities  of  Colbert  '; 

in  France.     From  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  to  the  end  of  .■ 

the   eighteenth   century   the    State  deliberately   interfered  I 

with  the  free  play  of  the  rival  forces  in  industry,  with  a  view  \ 

to  attaining    primarily    for   the   workers  (i)  a  reasonable  ] 

standard  of  living ;  (2)  proper  training  in  the  skilled  trades  ;  ; 

(3)  employment.  [ 

It  is  true  that  the  numerous  statutes,  commencing  with  i 

the  Statute  of  Labourers,  which  fixed,  or  created  machinery  > 

to  fix,  the  wages  which  must  be  paid  arrived  rather  at  a  i 

maximum  than  at  a  minimum  wage.     At  the  same  time,  j 

such  statutory  regulation  did  in  fact  prevent  wages  being  : 

driven  down  below  a  reasonable  level.     It  is  also  true  that  i 

in  1 512  an  Act  was  passed  which  removed  the  obligation  i 

hitherto   imposed   upon   the   master  to   pay   the   statutory  I 

wage.     On  the  whole,  however,  even  before  the  Statute  j 

of  Apprentices,  the  State  did  look  with  favour  upon  the  , 

regulation  of  wages,  and  although  such  regulation  was  of  ! 

a  kind  that  would  not  be  regarded  as  satisfactory  to-day,  -, 

although  the  employing  and  wealthy  classes  occupied  the  \ 
controlling  position  in  all  disputes  relating  to  wages,  still 

the  recognition  of  the  principle  of  corporate  or  State  or  ; 

local   regulation   did   prevent   the   standard   of  life   being  j 

debased  by  the  action  of  individual  employers  able  and  \ 

218  ' 


THE    RISE    OF    TRADE    UNIONISM 

willing  to  compete  with  others  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that 
by  all  available  means  they  had  obtained  their  labour  in 
the  cheapest  possible  manner.  Under  the  earlier  regime 
the  standard  was  that  of  the  employers  as  a  class,  under 
the  practices  which  grew  up  after  the  Industrial  Revolution 
the  standard  tended  to  become  that  which  the  worst 
masters  were  prepared  to  allow,  or  rather  that  which  the 
worst,  the  youngest,  and  the  most  unskilled  operatives  were 
prepared  to  accept. 

Individual  Bargaining 

As  Judge  Ruegg  says  in  his  Law  of  Employer  and 
Workman^  "  We  may  safely  assert  that  at  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century  State  control  had  in  general  become 
superseded  by  individual  bargaining,  and  the  relationship 
of  master  and  servant  had  become  contractual."  It  is 
desirable  to  see  how  this  position  had  been  arrived  at, 
the  results  it  led  to,  and  the  steps  taken  to  supersede  in 
turn  individual  by  collective  bargaining. 

It  is  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  somewhat  sharply  to 
distinguish  the  old  skilled  workmen,  such  as  hatters,  tailors, 
carpenters,  and  goldsmiths,  from  the  new  factory  hands 
and  the  miners  who  throughout  the  eighteenth  century 
and  the  first  four  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century  were 
regarded   as   forming   a   different   and   much   lower   class, 
whose  status  was  indeed  more  widely  separated  from  that 
of  the  skilled  men  than  is  the  status  of  the  labourer  from 
that  of  the  skilled  tradesman  of  to-day.     The  old  crafts- 
men retained  throughout  the  Industrial  Revolution  some- 
thing   of   the    corporate    organization    which     had    been 
developed   long  years   before.      They   retained   something 
of  the  old   corporate   privileges.     Except  in  the  case  of 
those  craftsmen  who  were  now  in  competition  with  the 
new  machinery  their  standard  of  life  was  not  substantially 
affected.     They  proved  a  powerful  link  with  the  past,  and 
their  strength  was  not  entirely  destroyed  even  during  the 
repressive  years  which   followed  upon  the  passing  of  the 
Combination  Laws  of  1799  and  1800. 

219 


1 

HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

The  new  industrialists,  on  the  other  hand,  had  no 
prerogatives,  no  precedents,  no  traditions  on  which  to  rely 
or  fall  back.  A  new  class,  a  poor  class,  an  unskilled  class, 
opposed  on  the  one  side  to  the  masters  and  on  the  other 
side  to  the  tradesmen  whose  place  they  were  slowly  taking, 
their  sole  strength  lay  in  their  mass,  in  their  numbers, 
and  in  their  manifest  miseries,  and  without  either  State 
regulation  or  the  power  to  combine  such  strength  appeared 
only  as  weakness. 

Appeal  by  Petition 

Before  the  Industrial  Revolution  there  had  been  but 
few  stable  combinations  of  workers.  The  craftsmen  had 
been  protected  to  some  extent  by  their  gild  organization. 
Some  sporadic  journeymen's  associations  had  arisen  to 
deal  with  occasional  grievances,  but  the  more  normal  course 
was  for  the  trade  as  a  whole  to  appeal,  in  case  of  disagree- 
ment between  the  various  ranks,  for  State  interference. 
From  time  to  time  Acts  were  passed  dealing  with  par- 
ticular grievances  in  particular  trades.  More  frequently 
petitions  were  received  and  considered.  The  attitude  of 
the  Government  was  that  of  benevolent  interest,  which 
occasionally  took  the  form  of  economically  disastrous 
State  interference.  Above  all,  the  Statute  of  Apprentices 
had  established  machinery  for  the  fixing  of  wages  and  had 
limited  the  number  of  apprentices.  There  is  evidence, 
however,  to  show  that  the  sections  relating  to  the  fixing 
of  wages  by  justices  had  by  1766  at  latest  fallen  entirely 
into  disuse. 

Absence  of  Stable  Combinations 

Before  the  Industrial  Revolution  few  stable  combinations 
of  workmen  are  to  be  found.  This  is  almost  certainly 
due  to  the  fact,  pointed  out  by  Mr  and  Mrs  Webb,  that 
the  skilled  handicraftsman  possessed  the  prospect  of 
economic  advancement.  The  journeyman  of  to-day  might 
be  the  master  of  to-morrow,  and  it  was  consequently  not 
220 


THE     RISE    OF    TRADE    UNIONISM 

to  the  interest  of  the  able  and  ambitious  workman,  soon 
likely  to  be  an  employer  himself,  to  support  too  strongly 
the  demands  of  the  employed.  It  has,  indeed,  been  truly 
observed  that : 

So  long  as  industry  was  carried  on  mainly  by  small  masters, 
each  employing  one  or  two  journeymen,  the  period  of  any  energetic 
man's  service  as  a  hired  wage-earner  cannot  normally  have  ex- 
ceeded a  few  years.  .  .  .  An  incipient  organisation  would  always 
be  losing  its  oldest  and  most  capable  members.^ 

There  was  perhaps  another  though  minor  cause  for  the 
absence  of  combination.  The  craftsman  had  been  used 
to  regarding  the  Government  as  a  body  to  which  appeals 
could  usefully  be  made  if  oppression  or  hardship  were 
experienced.  "With  the  Industrial  Revolution,  however, 
everything  was  changed.  A  new  class  arose;  the  man  could 
no  longer  look  with  reasonable  certainty  to  becoming 
a  master;  ParHament  no  longer  showed  any  disposition  to 
interfere  in  the  warfare  which  soon  began  to  wage  between 
the  employer  and  the  employed.  It  should  be  realized, 
however,  that  we  now  speak  rather  of  the  new  unskilled 
trades,  and  in  particular  of  the  miners  and  the  factory 
operatives.  The  attitude  of  Parliament  did  not  so  much 
change  as  did  the  circumstances  to  which  Parliament  had 
to  address  itself.  The  old  forms  of  interference  with  the 
old  trades  could  still  continue,  but  in  the  case  of  the  new 
trades  it  was  shown  time  after  time  to  be  impossible  and 
disastrous.  The  limitation  of  the  number  of  apprentices, 
of  the  number  to  be  employed,  of  the  number  of  looms 
to  be  used,  could  no  longer  be  insisted  upon  with  the 
coming  of  a  factory  organization  based  on  a  new  and 
powerful  motive  power  costing  great  sums  of  money, 
working  large  numbers  of  looms,  and  inevitably  resulting 
in  the  employing  of  tens,  hundreds,  or  even  thousands  of 
workers,  and  in  the  production  of  commodities  at  a  far 
lower  price.  In  truth,  the  new  circumstances  found  the 
governing,  the  employing,  and  the  working  classes  without 

^  Mr  and  Mrs  Webb,  History  of  Trade  Unionism. 

221 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

any  clear  conception  of  the  problems  to  be  solved  or  the 
right  way  to  solve  them.  The  industrial  wrongs  of  the 
second  half  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  the  subsequent  struggle  between 
capital  and  labour,  with  all  the  political  upheavals  resulting 
therefrom,  are  all  due  primarily  to  the  fact  that  an  epoch- 
making  discovery  came  into  a  world  utterly  bewildered 
and  absolutely  unorganized  to  receive  it. 

Useless  Proposals 

To  the  solution  of  the  more  obvious  of  these  problems 
the  workers  at  first  contributed  nothing.  If  the  governors 
were  at  a  loss,  so  also  were  those  who  were  governed. 
For  a  time  the  people  looked  to  the  old  order;  they  sought 
the  enforcement  of  the  Statute  of  Apprentices;  they  urged 
the  restriction  of  the  number  of  persons  to  be  employed 
by  any  one  master ;  they  in  some  cases  opposed  the 
introduction  of  machinery.  Parliament  was  for  a  time 
not  unsympathetic.  Committees  were  appointed  to  con- 
sider whether  the  old  forms  of  regulation  could  not  usefully 
be  applied.  Each  of  such  committees  was,  however, 
overwhelmed  by  the  mass  of  adverse  evidence.  The 
workers  had  taken  up  an  impossible  position.  The  em- 
ployers won  all  along  the  line.  They  were  shown  to  have 
every  argument  on  their  side.  To-day,  looking  back  with 
all  the  calm  dispassionateness  of  the  historian,  unaffected 
by  the  real  miseries  which  were  being  suffered  by  the 
people  who  found  themselves  involved  in  the  birth  of  a 
new  order  of  industry,  Mr  and  Mrs  Webb — than  whom 
no  one  is  more  sympathetic  toward  the  aspirations  of 
labour — have  said : 

In  fact,  these  proposals  [of  the  workers]  were  impossible.  The 
artisans  had  a  grievance — perhaps  the  worst  that  any  class  can 
have — the  degradation  of  their  standard  of  livelihood  by  circum- 
stances which  enormously  increased  the  productivity  of  their 
labour.      But  they  mistook  the  remedy.^ 

^  History  of  Trade  Unionism. 
222 


THE    RISE    OF    TRADE    UNIONISM 

Laissez-faire 

The  working  classes  had  indeed  taken  up  a  false  position, 
and  the  result  was  that  Parliament  began  to  be  suspicious 
of  nostrums  which  on  examination  proved  to  be  .fallacious. 
When  Adam  Smith  produced  his  Wealth  of  Nations  in 
1776  and  expounded  the  theory  of  the  freedom  of  contract 
he  but  voiced  opinions  which  experience  had  convinced 
the  squirearchy  of  England  and  which  theory  had  per- 
suaded the  revolutionaries  of  France  were  sound.  He 
immediately  became  a  force  because  he  expressed  what 
the  majority  of  men  had  been  thinking.  From  that  time 
forward  England  became  the  champion  of  the  theory  of 
laissez-faire.  The  employer  and  the  employed  were  left 
alone  to  fight  their  own  battles. 

The  operatives,  despite  such  victories  as  that  which 
obtained  the  passing  of  the  Spitalfields  Acts  of  1765  and 
1773,  soon  saw  that  Parliament  could  no  longer  usefully 
be  looked  to,  and  thereupon  arose  three  lines  of  activity : 
(i)  the  reform  of  Parliament;  (2)  the  development  of 
trade  combination ;  (3)  the  enforcement  of  existing,  though 
obsolete,  laws. 

The  first  and  second  of  these  forms  of  activity  had,  as 
we  shall  see,  results  of  the  first  magnitude.  The  third 
failed  in  the  law  courts  as  the  attempt  to  hark  back  to  the 
old  order  of  things  had  failed  before  Parliament. 

Attempts  to  enforce  the  Old  Laws 

The  Combination  Laws  of  1799  and  1800  prevented 
combinations  for  the  purpose  of  raising  wages  and  varying 
the  conditions  of  labour,  but  they  did  not  prevent  combina- 
tions to  enforce  the  law,  and  we  consequently  find  numerous 
actions  being  started  by  various  trade  associations  with  a 
view  to  the  enforcement  of  the  Statute  of  Apprentices 
and  other  trade-regulating  Acts  which  the  researches  of 
lawyers  had  but  lately  rediscovered.  In  1 8 1 1  it  was  held, 
however,  that  the  Statute  of  Apprentices  did  not  apply 
to  industries  which  had  come  into  existence  since  the  Act 

223 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

was  passed  and  that  the  powers  given  to  the  justices  were 
discretionary  only.  The  new  factory  operatives  were 
excluded  as  being  outside  the  classes  the  Act  was  designed 
to  protect,  and  the  justices,  who  were  without  exception 
opposed  to  the  fixing  of  wages  in  the  textile  trades  at 
Sessions,  were  told  that  they  might  lawfully  refuse  to 
act  in  this  capacity.  The  Statute  was,  in  truth,  virtually 
repealed,  and  in  1 8 1 3  that  part  of  the  Statute  dealing  with 
wages  was  formally  repealed  by  Act  of  Parliament. 

Four  years  before  (1809)  a  number  of  old  laws  ^  pre- 
scribing regulations  for  the  manufacturing,  sale,  and  ex- 
portation of  woollen  cloths,  and  the  use  of  gig-mills,  and 
the  number  of  looms  to  be  worked  by  any  one  master  in 
the  woollen  trade,  were  all  repealed  after  having  been  sus- 
pended from  year  to  year. 

It  was,  indeed,  obvious  that  actions  brought  to  enforce 
obsolete  Acts  were  both  expensive  and  futile.  If  any  j 
victory  was  scored  the  law  was  promptly  altered.  In  truth,  ; 
few  cases  were  won.  Sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  the  i 
cotton  weavers  in  1804,  legal  action  was  supplemented 
by  the  weapon  of  the  strike.  But  the  strike  was  not  ! 
as  yet  legalized,  and  inevitably  involved  the  arrest  and  i 
imprisonment  of  the  leaders.  j 

The  old  apprenticeship  law  was  still,  however,  a  part  ! 
of  the  law  of  the  land.  There  was  a  considerable  mass  of 
pubHc  opinion  in  favour  of  its  retention,  and  a  Select  \ 
Committee  appointed  to  consider  the  matter  reported  ' 
favourably.  Parliament,  however,  was  wedded  to  the  ' 
theory  of  freedom  of  action  between  master  and  man.  The 
Select  Committee  of  1 8 1 1  had  reported  that :  1 

No  interference  of  the  legislature  with  the  freedom  of  trade  or 
with  the  perfect  liberty  of  every  individual  to  dispose  of  his  time  i 
and  of  his  labour  in  the  way  and  on  the  terms  which  he  may  judge  ' 
most  conducive  to  his  own  interest  can  take  place  without  violating  | 

general  principles  of  the  first  importance  to  the  prosperity  and  ' 
■ . _ — _  i 

1  1 3  Ric.  II,  St.  I,  c.  1 1 ;  5  and  6  Edw.  VI,  c.  6  ;  2  and  3  P.  and  M.,  c.  1 1  : 
and  c.  12  ;  4  and  5  P.  and  M.,  c.  5  ;  43  Eliz.,  c.  10  ;  4  Jac.  I,  c.  2  ;  21  Jac.  I,  i 
c.  18  ;  10  An.,  c.  16  ;  I  Geo.  I,  c.  15  ;  13  Geo.  I,  c.  23.  \ 

224  I 


THE  'RISE    OF    TRADE    UNIONISM 

happiness  of  the  community,  without  establishing  the  most 
pernicious  precedent,  and  even  without  aggravating,  after  a  very 
short  time,  the  pressure  of  the  general  distress,  and  imposing 
obstacles  against  that  distress  being  ever  removed. 

In  1 8 14  the  Act  54  Geo.  Ill,  c.  96,  repealed  the  remain- 
ing sections  of  the  Statute  of  Apprentices,  and  with  them, 
to  use  the  words  of  Mr  and  Mrs  Webb,  "  the  last  remnant 
of  that  legislative  protection  of  the  Standard  of  Life  which 
survived  from  the  Middle  Ages." 

Early  Unions 

Ever  since  the  opening  years  of  the  Industrial  Revolu- 
tion there  had  been  a  notable  amount  of  trade  organization. 
The  West  of  England  woollen  workers  and  the  Midland 
framework  knitters  were  the  first  to  combine  in  associa- 
tions having  as  their  primary  purpose  the  prevention  of 
the  reduction  of  wages.  At  first,  however,  the  activities 
of  these  newly  arisen  bodies  had  but  few  practical  results, 
except  that  they  called  into  being  a  resistance  which 
steadily  gathered  momentum,  and  which,  having  ex- 
hausted the  resources  of  the  common  law  and  the  law  of 
conspiracy,  eventually  succeeded  in  placing  on  the  Statute 
Book  the  Combination  Laws  of  1799  and  1800. 

Combination  Laws 

These  two  laws,  the  second  amending  and  expanding 
the  first,  rendered  it  criminal  to  combine  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  a  rise  in  wages,  or  the  alteration  of  the  hours 
or  conditions  of  work.  To  prevent  any  employer  em- 
ploying or  any  employee  from  being  employed,  to  strike 
or  attempt  to  induce  others  to  strike,  to  attend  a  meeting 
to  attain  these  objects,  or  to  spend  money  in  furtherance  of 
such  purposes,  was  made  punishable  with  imprisonment. 
The  history  of  trade  unionism  for  the  next  twenty-four 
years  is  mainly  composed  of  the  repressive  steps  taken 
under  the  Combination  Laws  and  of  the  exertions  of  a 
comparatively  small  body  of  men  to  secure  the  repeal  of  the 

P  225 


HISTORY    OF     LABOUR 

Act  of  1 800.  The  mass  of  trade  unionists,  if  we  may  now 
use  that  term,  were  concerned  and  occupied  in  the  agitation 
for  the  reform  of  the  Parliament  which  had  passed  the  law. 

Even  before  the  passing  of  these  general  Acts  a  con- 
siderable number  of  repressive  measures  had  been  enacted 
for  the  purpose  of  forbidding  combinations  in  particular 
trades.  That  branch  of  the  law  of  contract  which  renders 
agreements  void,  as  being  against  public  policy,  which 
are  in  restraint  of  trade  was  also  used  to  eke  out  the  some- 
what slender  law  of  conspiracy,  which  in  earlier  years  had 
been  concerned  only  with  criminals  and  wrongdoers,  but 
which  was  now  utilized  as  a  means  of  suppressing  combina- 
tions. It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  age  was 
one  of  great  difficulty.  The  terrible  excesses  of  the  French 
Revolution  had  been  witnessed.  The  ideals  of  the  theorists 
had  been  seen,  as  they  have  since  been  seen  in  Russia,  to  end  in 
a  welter  of  blood.  In  France  cruelties  had  been  committed 
in  the  name  of  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity  beyond 
anything  experienced  since  the  Thirty  Years  War.  What 
was  to  have  been  an  ideal  state  of  society  had  crashed  in  ruins  ^ 
to  the  ground,  and  from  those  ruins  a  military  dictatorship  ■ 
had  arisen  which  plunged  Europe  into  a  devastating  war  and  '-■ 
taxed  the  resources  of  Britain  to  the  utmost  to  destroy  it.       j 

\ 
Aims  of  the  Early  Trade  Unionists  ' 

In  the  early  days  of  the  new  unionism  the  workers  had  I 

aims    which   were    directed   against   the    whole   industrial  ' 

system.      They  were  not  pressing  for  collective  bargaining  i 

with  their  employers  on  the  other  side  of  the  table;  they  1 

were  pressing  for  a  radical  change  in  the  whole  structure  , 

of  industry.      In  so  far  their  aims  were  revolutionary,  and 

the   Government    had    some   justification    for   taking    the  \ 

strongest  measures  in  order  to  stamp  out  every  form  of  ; 

sedition.     The •  rulers  of  those  days  acted,  it  may  be,  in  j 

ignorance  of  the  tenets  of  Confucius,  but  in  accordance  with  | 

his  most  cardinal  principle,  viz.,  that  words  should  be  given  ; 

their  proper  meaning — that  of  the  governors  and  governed 

it  is  the  governor  who  should  rule  and  not  the  governed.  ! 

226  1 


THE     RISE    OF    TRADE    UNIONISM 

Of  the  large  number  of  Acts,  legislative  and  adminis- 
trative, and  the  dramatic  prosecutions  directed  against  the 
seditious,  we  do  not  propose  to  speak.  It  has  become  a 
commonplace  to  regard  those  upon  whom  the  law  of  sedi- 
tion fell  most  harshly  as  broad-minded  and  healthy  patriots. 
It  has  perhaps  been  too  little  considered  what  would  to-day 
be  the  state  of  England,  of  Europe,  and  of  the  world,  had 
they  had  their  way  and  had  they  succeeded  in  tearing  in 
pieces  the  fabric  of  society  in  England.  Such  complex 
structures  as  civilizations — based  as  they  are  on  the  ex- 
periences, the  sufferings,  the  ideals,  and  the  thoughts 
of  generations  of  men — are  easily  destroyed.  Like  the 
giant  oak  they  grow  slowly,  but  can  soon  be  cut  down. 
History  has  shown  that,  without  any  exception,  progress 
is  best  attained  when  based  on  work,  on  reason,  and  on 
calm  dispassionate  judgment,  and  that  reaction  and  decline 
flourish  most  happily  in  the  fruitful  soils  of  violence  and 
bloodshed. 

The  fear  of  revolution,  and  of  that  collapse  which  was 
taking  place  on  the  other  side  of  the  Channel,  had  un- 
doubtedly a  repressive  effect  on  the  free  institutions  of 
Britain.  Liberty  of  speech,  of  the  Press,  and  of  meeting 
was  struck  at  time  after  time.  The  country  at  times  wore 
almost  the  appearance  of  a  conquered  land  in  military 
occupation.  Democratic  institutions  for  a  season  withered 
and  the  combinations  of  workpeople  were  suppressed. 

The  Act  of  1800  was  not,  however,  universally  enforced. 
It  was  rather  a  weapon  in  reserve  than  a  weapon  always 
in  action.  The  masters  were  left  to  set  the  law  in  motion 
and  frequently  the  masters  were  tolerant  of  the  unions. 
It  was,  perhaps,  only  in  the  new  factories,  and  especially 
in  the  textile  factories,  that  the  Combination  Law  was  used 
as  a  means  of  oppression  and  repression.  It  was  not  often 
that  the  case  was  put  as  high  as  in  the  argument  of  counsel 
at  the  trial  of  the  cotton-spinners  in  1 8 1 8  when  he  said : 
"  All  societies,  whether  benefit  societies  or  otherwise,  are 
only  cloaks  for  the  people  of  England  to  conspire  against 
the    State."     In  truth,  the  clauses  against  collecting  and 

227 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

benefit  societies  were  early  little  better  than  dead  letters, 
but  the  laws  against  combinations  and  strikes  were  often 
very  rigorously  enforced.     As  Francis  Place  says: 

The  suflrerings  of  persons  employed  in  the  cotton  manufactures 
were  beyond  credibility:  they  were  drawn  into  combinations, 
betrayed,  prosecuted,  convicted,  sentenced,  and  monstrously 
severe  punishments  inflicted  on  them:  they  were  reduced  to  and 
kept  in  the  most  wretched  state  of  existence.^ 

The  Combination  Law  was,  of  course,  directed  against 
combinations  whether  of  men  or  masters,  but,  as  Place 
pointed  out  when  giving  evidence  before  Hume's  Com- 
mittee :  "  It  would  be  nearly  impossible  to  prosecute  a 
master  to  conviction.  To  prosecute  at  all,  money  must 
be  raised;  to  raise  money  there  must  be  a  combination 
amongst  the  men,  and  then  they  may  be  prosecuted  by 
the  masters."  If,  as  the  law  then  stood,  the  men  were  to 
prosecute  the  masters,  there  would  be  a  cross  prosecution. 
The  Combination  Law  compelled  the  men  to  give  evidence 
against  one  another,  and  thus  the  prosecution  was  often 
effective ;  no  law  compelled  the  masters  to  give  evidence 
against  one  another,  and  so  a  conviction  was  rarely  obtained. 

France 

Of  the  steps  taken  by  Place  and  his  associates  to  abolish 
the  Combination  Laws  we  shall  have  to  speak  hereafter. 
It  will  be  convenient  at  this  point  to  retrace  our  steps 
somewhat  and  consider  what  had  been  happening  in  France 
and  the  now  independent  Republic  of  the  United  States 
of  America. 

The  French,  as  we  have  seen,  had  from  very  early 
times  possessed  trade  associations  similar  to  the  English 
gilds,  and  these  associations  were  fostered  and  strengthened 
by  the  changes  introduced  by  Colbert.  The  system  of  gild 
and  State  regulation  introduced  in  the  seventeenth  century 
had  been  strongly  opposed  from  the  first  by  the  masters  and 

^  See  his  evidence  before  Hume's  Committee. 
228 


THE     RISE    OF    TRADE    UNIONISM 

by  many  of  the  men,  who  chafed  at  the  restrictions  and 
limitations  placed  upon  them.  In  the  eighteenth  century 
Turgot  arose  to  sweep  away  most  of  what  Colbert  had 
established,  and  in  1776  appeared  Turgot's  edict  sup- 
pressing the  gilds  and  declaring  that 

God  by  giving  to  men  needs  and  desires  has  rendered  them 
dependent  upon  the  products  of  their  labour  and  has  given  as  the 
right  and  possession  of  all  men  the  right  to  work  ;  and  this  right 
is  the  first,  the  most  sacred,  and  the  most  indestructible  of  all. 

The  revolutionaries  completed  what  Turgot  had  com- 
menced— the  complete  abolition  of  gild  restrictions.  The 
most  sacred  principle  for  which  thousands  of  French  aristo- 
crats were  sent  to  the  guillotine  was  that  the  individual 
was  free.  Individual  liberty,  freedom  from  all  the 
shackles  of  the  past,  from  manorial,  gild,  and  State  regu- 
lations, this  was  the  aim  and  ideal  of  the  revolutionaries, 
and  in  their  eagerness  to  secure  individual  liberty  they 
completely  destroyed  collective  liberty.  In  1791  not  only 
were  the  gilds  suppressed;  every  combination,  or  assembly, 
or  association,  or  organization  connected  with  the  advance- 
ment of  the  common  interests  of  labour  was  also  declared 
unlawful.  Nineteen  years  later  the  Penal  Code  forbade 
any  organization  of  more  than  twenty  persons  unless  the 
consent  of  the  Government  had  been  obtained. 

As  Sir  Sydney  Chapman  so  well  expresses  it: 

The  general  object  of  revolutionary  legislation,  apart  from  its 
lighter  treatment  of  employees,  .  .  .  had  been  to  secure  the 
individual  in  his  rights  as  a  man.  It  was  natural  that  the  reaction 
against  the  system  of  the  and  en  regime  should  be  thorough.  It 
was  for  succeeding  generations  to  discover  that  the  individual  in 
having  freedom  thrust  upon  him  by  the  famous  law  of  March  17, 
1 79 1,  had  been  in  many  cases  deprived  of  the  power  of  bargaining 
with  the  employer  upon  equal  terms,  if  he  were  not,  according  to 
the  extreme  saying  of  Brentano,  delivered  over  bound  hand  and 
foot  to  the  caprices  of  the  capitalists.^ 

^   JVork  and  Wages. 

229 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

America 

Before  the  Declaration  of  Independence  (ijyS)  there 
was  nothing  which  can  be  described  as  a  trade  union,  or 
even  as  a  stable  association  of  journeymen,  in  the  Americas. 

The   French   Canadians   were   not  industrially   organized  j 

at   all;  the  inhabitants  of   the  States  which  subsequently  \ 

became  the  United  States  were  mainly  agriculturists,  and  ! 

in  so  far  as  they  were  industrials  they  were  organized  in  I 

a  manner  not  dissimilar  to  the  old  gild  system.     Wages  l 
were  regulated.     As  early  as  1630   the  Court  of  Assistants 

of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  had  fixed  the  wages  of  , 

artisans.      Social,   gild,   or  friendly  clubs  were  formed  to  i 
lend  money  to  and  help  members.      Life  was  simple,  and 
industrial  development  was  deliberately  retarded  in  favour 
of  agricultural   expansion.     The   factory   system   had   not 

commenced.      The  first  factory  was  not  built  until   1787,  \ 

and   it   was   not   until    18 14   that   the   American    Francis  j 

Lowell  succeeded  in  inventing  a    power-loom.     England  | 

had  not  unnaturally  taken  every  precaution  to  prevent  her  i 
inventions  being  copied  abroad,  and  important  restrictions 

existed  which  prevented  the  export  of  machinery.     Such  i 

obstacles  could,  however,   be  overcome,  as  Place  pointed  1 

out  before  Hume's  Committee,  and  in   1794  Englishmen  < 

succeeded  in  smuggling  the  machinery  necessary  for  the  • 

woollen  industry  into  America.      In  1797  the  first  factory  i 
was  built  for  spinning  and  weaving  flax.     As  in  England, 

the  earliest  recruits  to  the  new  factories  were  young  and  [ 

unskilled    workers;    as    in    England,   it    was    the    coming  I 

of  the  factory  system  that  induced  the  forming  of  trade  1 

unions.  \ 

But  in  America  each  of  the  stages  in  the  development  ^ 

of  trade  unionism  was  somewhat    later  in  time    than  in  • 

England.     Although  the  Typographical   Society  of  New  1 
York  City  and  the  Federal  Society  of  Journeymen  Cord- 
wainers  were  in  existence  by   1795,  and  although  certain 

organizations  of  a  temporary  nature  are  found  even  earlier,  | 

it  was  not  until  after  the  war  of  1 8 1 2  that  the  history  of  j 

American  trade  unionism  can  be  said  to  have  commenced.  ' 
230 


THE    RISE    OF    TRADE    UNIONISM 

As  Professor  Carlton  says,  "  Modern  trade  unionism 
was  practically  non-existent  previous  to  1824.  Certain 
rudimentary  organizations  are  found,  but  these  were 
purely  local,  ephemeral,  and  confined  to  members  of  one 
trade."  ^  In  one  direction,  however,  America  appears  to  have 
anticipated  England.  The  first  union  of  unions,  formed  at 
Philadelphia  in  1827,  used  the  style  of  "  The  Mechanics' 
Union  of  Trade  Associations,"  and  although  there  is 
abundant  evidence  of  the  close  relationship  existing  between 
unions  in  England,  it  is  believed  that  the  first  union  of 
unions  did  not  come  into  being  in  this  country  until  1829. 
-  As  we  should  expect,  though  the  need  for  trade  unions 
became  apparent  with  the  rise  of  the  factory  system  in 
America,  the  earliest  associations  were  associations  of 
craftsmen.  Precisely  the  same  course  of  events  occurred 
in  England.  We  see  there  as  here  the  new  order  causing 
an  upheaval  among  the  old  trades.  Young  unskilled 
workers  begin  to  take  the  place  of  the  skilled  workers. 
The  skilled  workers,  for  their  own  defence,  stir  up  the  fire 
of  their  ancient  gild  organizations.  New  societies  come 
into  being  based  on  the  old,  but  their  aims  are  impossible. 
They  try  in  vain  to  bridge  the  abyss  by  bringing  the  sides 
together.  The  new  associations  accomplish  but  little 
because  they  belong,  as  their  ideals  belong,  to  an  age  that 
is  rapidly  passing  away.  Such  organizations  disappear, 
but  not  before  they  have  assisted  to  bring  into  existence 
other  societies  and  associations  formed  to  remedy  the 
grievances  of  quite  a  different  class  of  man,  the  man  who 
belonged  not  to  the  past,  but  to  the  present  and  the  future — 
the  factory  hand. 

These  societies  or  trade  unions  arose  in  America  some 
little  time  after  Francis  Place  in  England  had  secured  for 
a  time  the  complete  repeal  of  the  Combination  Laws. 
The  early  years  of  the  thirties  of  last  century  are  perhaps 
the  most  important  in  the  history  of  the  birth  of  American 
trade  unionism. 

Owing  to  the  late  development  of  the  country,  it  befell 
^  History  and  Problems  of  Organised  Labour. 

231 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

that  the  American  unionist  has  not  the  same  traditions  of 
repression,  secret  meetings,  and  imprisonment  as  have  those 
older  unions  which  in  England  were  assembling  in  wild 
and  deserted  places,  on  hill-tops  and  in  woods,  throughout 
the  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  opening  years 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  America  trade  unionism 
hardly  existed  prior  to  1824,  and  when  it  did  arise  it 
tended,  as  in  France,  and,  at  that  period,  in  England,  to  be 
political  in  kind.  The  earlier  working  men's  parties 
achieved  nothing  and  rapidly  disappeared.  Again  to  quote 
Professor  Carlton: 

The  first  working  men's  party  appeared  in  Philadelphia  in  1827 
or  1828;  but  the  most  important  political  movement  occurred 
in  New  York  City.  The  New  York  party  was  organized  in 
the  spring  of  1829,  elected  a  State  assemblyman  in  the  fall,  was 
split  into  three  fragments  within  a  few  months,  put  three  tickets 
in  the  field  in  the  fall  of  1830,  and  disappeared  from  view  the 
following  spring.  .  .  .  The  first  American  labour  movement 
was  disrupted  by  entering  the  political  arena. 

The  experiences  of  the  earlier  unionists  were  not  lost 
upon  their  successors.  The  later  trade  unions  kept  aloof 
from  politics,  but  used  all  their  powers  of  persuasion  and 
intimidation  to  obtain  the  support  of  politicians  for  their 
programme,  which  naturally  has  varied  from  time  to  time, 
but  has  from  the  very  earliest  days  attached  special  im- 
portance to  education. 

Francis  Place 

Francis  Place,  the  protagonist  in  the  struggle  for  the 
abolition  of  the  Combination  Laws,  had  himself  been  a 
skilled  tradesman — a  leather-breeches-maker — and  had 
subsequently  become  a  master  and  a  man  of  some  wealth. 
He  devoted  himself  with  extraordinary  assiduity  and 
acuteness  for  years  to  the  preparation  of  the  case  and  to  the 
selection  of  the  court  for  the  hearing  of  the  cause  of  Free- 
dom V.  Repression  which  he  finally  succeeded  in  bringing 
to  trial  in  1824.  The  court  was  well  chosen.  Joseph 
232 


THE     RISE    OF    TRADE    UNIONISM 

Hume,  chairman  of  the  Select  Committee  on  Artisans 
and  Machinery,  was  known  to  be  one  of  Place's  supporters. 
The  personnel  of  the  committee  was  well  disposed  toward 
the  reformer.  Years  of  '  lobbying  *  had  not  been  spent  in 
vain.  An  overwhelming  mass  of  evidence  was  produced, 
and  Place  himself  took  the  acceptable  but,  as  events  have 
proved,  hopelessly  fallacious  line  that  the  only  thing  that 
binds  men  together  is  repression. 

But  although  Place  himself  was  doubtless  misguided 
in  some  essentials,  he  was  primed  with  facts  on  matters 
of  detail.  That  he  was  wrong  in  some  matters  of  the  first 
importance  is  obvious  from  the  opinions  expressed  by 
him  in  his  evidence.  It  is  abundantly  clear  that  Place 
looked  to  the  abolition  of  the  Combination  Laws  to  bring 
peace  to  industry.  "  If  the  men  could  legally  combine, 
disputes  would  seldom  occur,  but  when  they  did  they 
would  be  settled  by  compromise  between  the  parties. 
Workmen  dread  a  strike."  He  as  equally  clearly  took 
the  very  just  view  that  the  great  thing  to  aim  at  is  industrial 
peace  and  goodwill  between  master  and  man,  but  his 
belief  that  the  abolition  of  the  Combination  Laws  would 
bring  about  this  result  has  been  shown  to  be  wrong.  It  is 
not  too  much  to  say,  and  the  statement  is  not  made  lightly, 
that  each  advance  made  by  trade  unions  along  the  road 
to  complete  liberty  of  action  has  been  marked  by  an  increase 
in  industrial  unrest.  Had  Francis  Place  foreseen  what 
has  happened  within  these  later  years  it  is  impossible  to 
believe  that  he  would  have  lifted  a  finger  to  secure  the 
repeal  of  the  Combination  Laws.  There  was  little  popular 
support  for  the  movement.  The  leaders  of  working- 
class  opinion  were  more  concerned  with  the  movement  for 
the  Reform  of  Parliament,  and  Place  himself  declared  that 
he  was  primarily  actuated  by  a  desire  to  bring  about  peace 
between  employers  and  employed,  to  do  away  with  strikes, 
and  to  create  a  spirit  of  compromise. 

That  he  achieved  a  momentous,  far-reaching,  and 
desirable  reform  will  doubtless  be  agreed  by  the  vast  mass 
of  modern  opinion,  which,  though  it  has  seen  the  abuse  of 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

trade  union  power,  has  also  seen  its  use,  has  observed  the 
improvements  effected  in   social  conditions,   the  advance- 
ment of  the  masses  along  the  roads  of  civilization,  education,    , 
prosperity,  and   happiness,  which  advancement   has   been    i 
brought  about  to  no  small  extent  by  the  activities  of  such    i 
unions.      But  that  early  nineteenth-century  opinion  would 
have    tolerated    the    upheavals    that    have    resulted ;    that 
Hume's  Committee  would  have  reported  as  they  did  could    I 
they  have  foreseen  that  less  than  one  hundred  years  later 
the  country  would  have  been   rent  by  strike  after  strike    ,! 
to  secure  results  which  to  them  would  have  appeared  in    j 
some  cases  Utopian  and  in  others  cases  childish,  cannot  be    1 
believed.  1 

In  the  result,  however.  Place  won  all  his  points.     The    | 
Committee  reported,  inter  alia^  as  follows :  | 

i 
(i)  That  prosecutions  have  frequently  been  carried  on  under  the    j 
statute  and  the  common  law  against  the  workmen,  and  many  of   f 
them  have  suffered  different  periods  of  imprisonment  for  combining 
and  conspiring  to  raise  their  wages,  or  to  resist  their  reduction, 
and  to  regulate  their  hours  of  working. 

(2)  That  several  instances  have  been  stated  to  the  Committee 
of  prosecutions  against  masters  for  combining  to  lower  wages  and 
to  regulate  the  hours  of  working;  but  no  instance  has  been  adduced 
of  any  master  having  been  punished  for  that  offence. 

(3)  That  the  laws  have  not  only  not  been  efficient  to  prevent 
combinations,  either  of  masters  or  workmen,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
have,  in  the  opinion  of  many  of  both  parties,  had  a  tendency  to 
produce  mutual  irritation  and  distrust,  and  to  give  a  violent 
character  to  the  combinations,  and  to  make  them  highly  dangerous 
to  the  peace  of  the  community. 

(4)  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Committee  that  masters  and 
workmen  should  be  freed  from  such  restrictions,  as  regards  the  rate 
of  wages  and  the  hours  of  working,  and  be  left  at  perfect  liberty 
to  make  such  agreements  as  they  may  mutually  think  proper. 

(5)  That  the  practice  of  settling  disputes  by  arbitration- between 
masters  and  workmen  has  been  attended  with  good  effects  ;  and 
it  is  desirable  that  the  laws  which  direct  and  regulate  arbitration 
should  be  consolidated,  amended,  and  made  applicable  to  all 
trades. 

234 


THE    RISE    OF    TRADE    UNIONISM 

(6)  That  it  is  absolutely  necessary,  when  repealing  the  Com- 
bination Laws,  to  enact  such  a  law  as  may  efficiently  and  by  summary 
process  punish  either  workmen  or  masters  who,  by  threats,  in- 
timidation, or  acts  of  violence,  should  interfere  with  that  perfect 
freedom  which  ought  to  be  allowed  to  each  party,  of  employing 
his  labour  or  capital  in  the  manner  he  may  deem  most  advantageous. 

The  Repeal  of  the  Combination  Laws 

The  Government  early  took  action.  The  Act  5  Geo. 
IV,  c.  95,  was  placed  on  the  Statute  Book,  and  the  Combina- 
tion Laws  of  1 799  and  1 800  were  repealed.  Almost  at  once 
strikes  occurred  all  over  the  kingdom.  A  people  that  had 
been  kept  down  for  more  than  twenty  years  while  wages 
had  steadily  declined  and  prices  had  risen  took  immediate 
advantage  of  their  new-found  liberty  to  press  for  a  better 
standard  of  life  and  better  conditions.  Many  emigrated 
as  a  consequence  of  the  repeal  of  the  emigration  laws. 

The  employers,  who  had  been  taken  by  surprise  by 
Place,  were  alarmed  and,  taking  a  leaf  out  of  Place's  book, 
obtained  the  appointment  of  a  Select  Committee  to  inquire 
into  the  effects  of  the  5  Geo.  IV,  c.  95. 

The  Committee  recommended,  after  hearing  much 
evidence  which  proved  the  widespread  nature  of  the 
strikes  which  had  occurred,  the  total  repeal  of  the  Act 
and  the  restoration  of  the  common  law.  The  report 
continues  : 

Your  Committee,  however,  in  recommending  that  the  common 
law  should  be  restored,  are  of  opinion  that  an  exception  should  be 
made  to  its  operation  in  favour  of  meetings  and  consultations 
amongst  either  masters  or  workmen,  the  object  of  which  is  peace- 
ably to  consult  upon  the  rate  of  wages  ...  or  to  settle  the  hours  of 
labour,  an  exception  which  .  .  .  will  not  afford  any  support  to  .  .  . 
that  assumption  of  control  on  the  part  of  the  workmen  in  the 
conduct  of  any  business  or  manufacture  which  is  utterly  incom- 
patible with  the  necessary  authority  of  the  master,  at  whose  risk 
and  by  whose  capital  it  is  to  be  carried  on. 

The  recommendations  of  the  employers'  Committee 
were  favourably  considered,  but  were  not  all  given  effect  to. 

235 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

In  1825,  however,  the  Combination  Laws  Repeal  Act 
was  amended  and  quahfied  by  a  new  Act  which  created 
the  offences  of  molestation  and  obstruction.  The  1825 
Act  removed  the  immunity  given  by  the  Act  of  1824  to 
combinations  of  workmen.  Workmen  might  still  be 
prosecuted  for  conspiracy  in  combination.  Convictions 
for  conspiracy  to  raise  wages  became,  though  not  matters 
of  frequency,  matters  of  occasional  occurrence. 

It  was  at  this  stage  that  the  law  relating  to  trade  unions 
remained  for  the  next  thirty-four  years,  until,  in  1859,  the 
Molestation  of  Workmen  Act  was  passed  in  order  to  render 
it  lawful  to  persuade  workmen  by  peaceful  means  to  abstain 
from  working  in  order  to  raise  their  wages. 

The  Law  of  Conspiracy 

In  the  sixties  a  notable  change  occurred;  the  franchise 
was  now  extended,  and  there  was  offered  to  the  working 
classes  some  share  in  the  political  power  which  had  been 
given  more  than  thirty  years  before  to  the  middle  classes. 
At  once  the  labour  movement  renewed  political  activity. 
In  1868  several  working  men  came  forward  as  candidates 
for  Parliament,  but  all  were  unsuccessful.  In  the  general 
election  of  1874,  however,  of  the  thirteen  trade  union 
candidates  put  forward,  two,  Alexander  Macdonald  and 
Thomas  Burt,  were  elected. 

It  was  during  this  period,  viz.,  in  1 87 1,  that  trade  unions 
had  secured  a  definite  though  somewhat  peculiar  status. 
As  a  result,  they  were  no  longer  illegal  bodies  and  their 
funds  were  protected.  But  in  many  respects  they  were 
still  weakened  by  the  development  of  the  common  law  rules 
relating  to  conspiracy,  which  were  still  available  as  a  means 
of  repressing  trade  combinations.  The  Courts  had  held 
that  although  the  Act  of  1871  had  declared  that  trade 
unions  should  not  be  deemed  unlawful  associations  merely 
because  they  were  in  restraint  of  trade  and  that  their 
members  as  such  should  not  be  liable  to  criminal  prosecu- 
tion for  conspiracy  or  otherwise,  yet  the  Trade  Union  Act 
had  not  affected  the  common  law,  which  still  remained 
236 


THE    RISE    OF    TRADE    UNIONISM 

available    as    a    weapon    of   offence    against   trade    union 
members. 

It  was,  however,  rapidly  becoming  apparent  that  trade 
unions  and  working-class  combinations  could  no  longer  be 
repressed.  For  not  only  had  their  membership  doubled 
between  the  years  1871  and  1875,  ^^^  ^^^*^  conditions 
were  altering  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  trade  unions 
really  necessary  in  the  interests  of  the  people  at  large. 
Further,  the  leaders  of  working-class  opinion  were  now 
uniting  to  the  political  agitation  which  pursued  its  course 
through  trade  unions  an  activity  which  sought  to  establish 
on  a  firm  foundation  these  trade  associations.  There 
were,  of  course,  as  yet  but  two  great  parties  in  the  State, 
Liberal  and  Tory,  and  the  creation  of  a  party  identified 
with  any  particular  class  was  as  yet  impracticable.  We 
now  find  labour,  at  this  period,  identifying  itself  with 
Gladstonian  Liberalism,  though  Gladstone  had  attacked 
the  trade  unions  in  1871,  when  an  Anti-Trade  Union  law 
was  passed. 

German  Trade   Unions 

The  course  of  events  in  Germany  was  not  dissimilar; 
there  the  trade  union  movement  originally  arose  in  the 
sixties,  and  was  the  child  of  one  of  the  wings  of  the  Social 
Democratic  party.  After  a  struggling  childhood  it  seemed 
doomed  to  final  extinction  when,  in  1879,  the  Anti-Socialist 
law  was  passed  which  resulted  in  the  dissolution  of  108 
trade  unions  within  the  next  decade,  and  the  changing  of 
the  activities  of  the  remaining  unions  into  those  common 
to  friendly  societies.  In  1889,  however,  the  Anti-Socialist 
law  lapsed  and  conditions  were  then  such  as  existed  in 
England  after  Place's  successful  agitation.  Henceforward 
it  was  seen  that  the  trade  union  movement  was  one  which 
under  modern  conditions  could  not  be  destroyed. 

The  Need  for  Unity 

What  were  these  conditions  ?  Their  origin  is  to  be 
found  in  the  increased  competition  which  now  began  to 

237 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

be  experienced  between  Great  Britain,  the  United  States, 
Germany,  and    France.      Until   about  the   middle   of  the 
nineteenth  century  the  only  great  industrial  country  was 
Great    Britain.      She    had    profited    enormously    by    the 
initial  advantage  which  had  been  secured  in  consequence 
of  her  many   engineering  inventions,  which   had   ushered 
in  the  factory  system  and  which  had  brought  unexampled 
wealth  to  great  numbers  of  her  people.     At  first,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  change  had  resulted  in  much  misery,  which 
had  in  turn  caused  the  creation  of  new  trade  combinations. 
The  rise  of  these  had  synchronized  with  the  revolution  in 
France  and  the   Napoleonic   wars.      The  result  had  been 
repression   grudgingly   submitted   to   during   a   period   of  i 
national  danger.      Within  a  few  years  of  the  removal  of 
that  danger  active  repression   had   been   abandoned,   but  > 
passive  repression  was   resorted  to  for  many  more  years  ; 
and  was  submitted  to  by  the  people  largely  because  the  ; 
country  as  a  whole  was   prosperous.      It  is   true  that  in  \ 
certain  periods,  particularly  in  the  early  forties  of  the  nine-  ] 
teenth  century,  there  were  periods  of  trade  depression  and  \ 
much  misery,  but  regarding  the  years  1825  to  1865  as  a  "j 
whole,  it  was  a  period  of  trade  expansion  which  saw  a  real  j 
increase  in  the  value  of  wages  and  a   real    improvement  \ 
in  the  conditions  of  work.     These   changes  were,  as  we  ! 
shall  see,  brought  about  by  the  activities  of  humanitarians  < 
effecting  their  aims   through  a   Parliament   whose   power  i 
was  based   upon   the   middle-class  vote.     The  middle  or  ' 
employing   class   were,   in   common   parlance,   doing  very 
well.     Business  was  good,  profits  were  high,  and  out  of  i 
their  plenty  they  could  be  generous.  j 

With  the  rise  of  America  and  Germany  into  the  ranks  ' 
of  first-class  manufacturing  powers  the  position  was  i 
changed.  There  was  now  keen  competition,  followed  by  : 
a  tendency  to  cut  wages,  and  the  working  class  began  to  1 
see  that  combination  was  necessary  unless  their  standard 
of  life  was  to  be  degraded  once  more. 

The  movement  would  have  been  even  more  active  were  \ 
it  not  for  the  fact  that,  as  a  result  of  the  vastly  increased  ! 

238 

i 


THE     RISE    OF    TRADE    UNIONISM 

production  which  was  now  taking  place  in  consequence 
of  this  increase  in  competition,  there  was  a  notable  fall 
in  the  cost  of  living  which  left  the  working  classes  in  as 
good  if  not  a  better  position  than  they  had  hitherto 
occupied. 

The  danger,  however,  was  sufficiently  apparent  to  cause 
increased  trade  union  activity,  and  their  first  line  of  offence 
was  political  and  was  directed  toward  securing  the  legality 
of  their  activities.  This  was  to  a  large  extent  achieved 
in  1875,  when  clauses  were  inserted  in  the  Conspiracy 
and  Protection  of  Property  Act  which  provided  that  no 
combination  among  members  of  trade  unions  to  do  any 
act  in  furtherance  of  a  trade  dispute  should  be  indictable 
as  a  conspiracy  unless  such  act  if  committed  by  an 
individual  would  be  punishable  as  a  crime. 

The  Twentieth   Century 

From  now  onward  for  the  next  twenty-five  years  the 
trade  union  movement  is  not  marked  by  any  substantial 
change.  The  Labour  Party  as  a  political  party  had  hardly 
become  a  notable  force  until  after  the  beginning  of  the 
twentieth  century.  The  trade  unionist  in  the  mass  was 
a  supporter  of  LiberaHsm.  Industrial  activity  pursued 
the  pohcy  of  compromise,  and  the  standard  of  Hfe  of 
the  employed  was  secured  without  resort  to  any  notable 
strikes. 

With  the  opening  of  the  twentieth  century,  however, 
a  change  takes  place.  In  Great  Britain  especially  com- 
petition becomes  more  and  more  acute.  The  cost  of 
living  tends  to  become  higher  and  higher.  The  imperative 
need  to  secure  a  proportion  of  the  markets  of  the  world 
checks  or  prevents  a  simultaneous  increase  in  wages.  The 
education  of  the  masses  creates  a  fruitful  soil  in  which 
seeds  of  discontent,  unrest,  and  impossible  desires  may  be 
sown.  The  Labour  Party  begins  to  come  forward  as  one 
of  the  distinct  parties  in  political  life ;  the  strike  becomes 
one  of  the  commonplaces  of  industrial  life.  As  Mr  Craik 
has  said : 

239 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  j 

These  strikes,  which  from  1910  to  1914  particularly  were  i 
unsurpassed  both  in  number  and  magnitude  of  operations,  were  ■ 
conducted  against  all  kinds  of  grievances  imaginable — strikes  for  | 
more  wages,  strikes  for  shorter  hours,  strikes  because  of  the  i 
victimisation  of  one  man,  strikes  because  of  the  intolerable  conduct  j 
of  some  petty  official,  strikes  against  the  employment  of  non-trade- 
unionists,  sympathetic  strikes,  strikes  without  trade  union  official  j 
sanction  and  in  the  teeth  of  the  leaders'  expressed  opposition — of 
grievances  and  strikes  there  appeared  to  be  no  end.^ 

The  trade  unions   had  indeed   been   put  in   an   extra- 
ordinarily favourable  position  by  the  passing  of  the  Trade  I 
Disputes  Act  in  1906,  which  did  in  effect  practically  put 
them    above    the    law.     Henceforward    no    act    done    in 
pursuance  of  a  trade  dispute,   whether  such  act  were  a 
breach  of  contract  or  a  civil  wrong,  was  actionable.     As  . 
a  result  of  their  immensely  strong  legal  position  and  of  ' 
the  great  numbers  of  their  members,  which  in  England  in   i 
191 3  amounted  to  four  millions,  being  one  million  more  i 
than  the  number  of  trade  unionists  in  America  and  one  ' 
million  two  hundred  and  jfifty  thousand  more  than   the  i 
number  of  trade  unionists  in  Germany,  the  trade  union  and  \ 
its  leaders  became    organizations    and  persons    exercising  ) 
almost  autocratic  power.  J 

Decentralization  ] 

With  the  coming  of  the  War  in  19 14  a  truce  was  j 
declared  for  a  season,  but  as  time  went  on  it  became  ; 
apparent  that  the  members  of  trade  unions  desired  a  \ 
certain  decentralization  of  authority,  partly  because  they  i 
had  not  assented  too  readily  to  the  statesmanlike  decisions  \ 
which  their  leaders  had  come  to.  The  result  was  the  : 
development  of  a  new  *  shop  stewards  '  movement,  which  j 
secured  not  only  more  power  to  the  local  unionist,  but 
also  more  control  over  the  working  conditions  of  the  shop  1 
or  factory  in  which  the  workers  were  employed.  The  ! 
movement  thus  inaugurated  may  probably  be  regarded  as 
the  first  step  in  that  democratic  control  of  industry  which  I 
^  Shri  History  of  the  Modern  British  Working-class  Movement.  \ 

240  j 


THE    RISE    OF    TRADE    UNIONISM 

is  considered  at  some  length  in  the  concluding  chapter  of 
this  book.  It  is  intimately  connected  with  the  Whitley 
Councils  which  have  recently  been  devised  as  a  nieans 
of  avoiding  industrial  warfare  by  creating  machinery 
by  which  employer  and  employed  can  frankly  discuss 
matters  of  grievance  without  the  need  to  resort  to  the 
barbarous  and  archaic  method  of  a  trial  of  strength,  which 
involves  a  serious  loss  to  the  combatants  and  much  injury 
to  the  community.  Neither  Whitley  Councils  nor  their 
relatives,  the  Pit  Committees  of  our  mines,  nor  the  elaborate 
laws  relating  to  the  submission  of  disputes  to  arbitra- 
tion under  the  Ministry  of  Labour  have,  however,  as 
yet  succeeded  in  eliminating  that  disastrous  mode  of 
compelling  agreement  by  means  of  a  strike  or  lock-out. 

Direct  Action 

Within  very  recent  years,  indeed,  the  strike  has  become 
a  weapon  that  is  used  not  merely  in  industrial  but  also  in 
political  matters,  and  it  is  here  that  it  behoves  those  who 
arc  concerned  in  the  future  development  of  the  trade 
union  movement  closely  to  consider  the  trend  of  events. 
The  political  strike  endeavours  to  secure  the  reversal  of 
a  decision  made  by  Parliament  or  by  the  Executive 
which  is  responsible  to  Parliament.  It  would  appear  to 
be  capable  of  justification  only  on  the  assumption  that 
such  decision  of  Parliament  or  the  Executive  is  contrary 
to  the  wishes  of  the  people  and  that  the  decision  of 
the  body  striking  is  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the 
majority  of  the  people.  Otherwise  it  is  apparent  that  a 
minority  of  the  community  is  dictating  to  the  majority. 

We  have  seen  in  the  past  that  until  the  beginning  of 
that  epoch  which  we  here  describe  as  the  Present  man 
has  been  ruled  by  a  minority,  a  minority  representative 
of  the  noblest  born,  the  best  educated,  and  frequently  the 
most  cultured  of  men.  We  have  seen  that  the  exercise  of 
such  power  by  the  minority  has  resulted  in  the  repression 
of  the  masses  and  the  continuance  of  long-endured  wrongs. 
Little  by  little  the  minority  has  become  larger  and  larger, 

Q  241 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

and  as  it  has  become  larger  the  wrongs  have  become  less  and 
less.  In  the  next  part  of  this  book,  which  is  concerned 
with  the  Present,  we  shall  see  that  slowly  the  minority  has 
yielded  power  to  the  majority,  which  has  won  that  power 
after  constant  struggles.  That  power  is  founded  on  the 
right  residing  in  the  majority  of  the  people,  irrespective 
of  class  or  wealth,  to  decide  how  the  country  shall  be  ruled, 
what  laws  shall  be  made,  and  how  obedience  to  those  laws 
shall  be  secured.  That  is  a  priceless  heritage.  It  con- 
stitutes at  present  what  we  call  our  liberty.  If  it  is 
surrendered  to  a  minority,  to  such  extent  as  it  is 
surrendered  our  liberty  will  be  impaired.  It  was  truly 
said  by  Burke,  when  speaking  at  the  time  of  the  proposed 
reformation  of  Parliament  toward  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  that  the  Englishman  was  free  as  no  other  man 
was  free,  if  you  restricted  the  term  Englishman  to  the 
privileged  minority  that  ruled  England.  To-day  we  can 
more  proudly  say  that  Englishmen  are  free  whether  they 
belong  to  the  minority  or  the  majority.  But  that  freedom 
will  be  lost  if  the  political  power  now  residing  in  the  , 
majority  is  surrendered  to  a  section. 

And  here  we  should  consider  what  section ;  we  should 
consider  whether  it  is  more  probable  that  a  minority  of  ; 
the  people  composed  of  working  men,  led  by  working  men 
with  peculiar  views — men  some  of  whom  appear  to  see  in 
Russia  to-day  nothing  but  good,  who  are  prepared  to 
sweep  Christianity  on  one  side  as  an  effete  and  mischievous 
creed,  and  are  ready  to  subvert  those  institutions  which 
have  slowly  grown  up  among  us — is  more  likely  to  be 
benevolent  or  wise  or  just  than  were  the  squirearchy  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  the  kings  and  bishops  of  the  twelfth 
century,  or  the  Caesars  and  senators  of  the  first  century. 

It  is  a  matter  for  each  man  himself  to  decide.  If  he 
decide  that  he  desires  to  have  a  voice  in  the  government 
of  his  country,  then  he  must  regard  as  mischievous  such 
movements  as  are  involved  in  the  formation  of  the  Council 
of  Action  or  in  the  declaration  of  strikes  for  political  objects, 
which  would  remove  from  him  the  right  to  say  indirectly 
242 


THE    RISE    OF    TRADE    UNIONISM 

what  should  be  done  and  so  transfer  to  a  trade  union,  of 
which  he  may  or  may  not  be  a  member,  the  right  either  to 
decide  political  matters  or  the  power  to  involve  him  and 
his  fellow-countrymen  in  loss  and  damage  arising  out  of  a 
political  strike. 

The  whole  question,  indeed,  seems  to  be  concluded  if 
once  it  appear  that  in  fact  our  present  Parliamentary 
system  as  a  system  does  offer  to  the  people  of  this  country 
the  power  to  rule  according  to  the  will  of  the  majority. 
We  hold  the  strong  opinion  that  it  does,  but  such  matters 
are  not  to  be  settled  by  any  man's  opinion ;  they  will  be 
settled  by  the  facts  of  the  case.  We  will  endeavour  in 
the  next  part  to  state  what  are  these  facts.  We  will  see 
what  Parliament  was  and  what  it  now  is.  We  will  see 
what  its  attitude  was  and  what  its  attitude  has  been  in 
these  latter  years.  We  will  review  a  multitude  of  measures 
gathering  in  number  as  the  years  pass  by,  and,  as  the  century 
proceeds,  becoming  more  and  more  sympathetic  toward 
the  masses  until  at  length  no  person  is  too  poor  or  too 
oppressed  to  be  the  subject  of  attentive  legislation.  When 
we  have  concluded  our  review  we  will  ask  the  reader  to 
turn  back  and  answer  for  himself  this  question :  "  Is  the 
Parliament  that  now  exists  and  has  done  these  things 
mindful  of  the  good  of  the  people  or  is  it  not  ?  "  and 
having  answered  that  question,  we  will  ask  him  to  consider 
this  other  one  also :  *'  Is  it  to-day  elected  by  the  people 
or  is  it  not  ?  " 

If  these  questions  are  answered  in  the  affirmative,  he  may 
desire  to  consider  what  is  this  impertinence  that  seeks  to 
take  from  the  people  their  right  to  rule  themselves. 


243 


PART  II 

THE   PRESENT 


There  is  no  greatness  or  dominion  on  earth  so 
sacred  but  it  must  fall  before  the  liberties  of 
the  people.  Extract  from  an  Oxford 

sermon  delivered  1781 


PROLOGUE  TO  PART  II 

IT  is  the  view  of  the  supporters  of  gild  socialism 
that  *'  the  crowning  discovery  of  the  nineteenth 
century  was  that  democratic  government  made  no 
difference  to  the  life  of  the  ordinary  man  ;  nominally  self- 
governing,  he  remained  in  bondage."  It  is  because  we 
differ  absolutely  and  altogether  from  this  reading  of  the 
industrial  and  political  history  of  the  century  that  we  regard 
the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832  as  the  starting-point 
of  a  new  order  of  things  destined  very  vitally  to  affect  the 
well-being  of  the  people  at  large  and  to  bring  about  a  far 
better  condition  of  life  than  had  been  known  before  in  the 
history  of  the  world. 

True  it  is  that  already  before  1832  some  measures  of 
reform  had  been  inaugurated  by  the  same  party  and  even 
by  the  same  government  that  was  responsible  for  the 
notorious  Six  Acts;  true  it  also  is  that  the  Whigs  accom- 
plished very  little  in  the  direction  of  social  legislation  in 
the  decade  following  the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill.  A  new 
Poor  Law,  a  State  grant  for  education,  a  valuable  Factory 
Act,  the  introduction  of  cheap  newspapers,  penny  postage, 
and  railways  were  their  most  valuable  constructive  efforts. 
But  in  judging  of  the  progress  immediately  attained  two 
factors  must  be  remembered.  In  the  first  place,  the  first 
Reform  Bill  was  essentially  a  middle-class  measure;  it 
accepted  the  principle  neither  of  the  ballot  nor  of  the 
working-class  vote.  It  was  not  until  many  years  later  that 
the  masses  were  enfranchised.  The  great  and  immense 
value  of  the  Act  of  1832  lay  not  so  much  in  what  it  im- 
mediately accomplished,  as  in  what  it  rendered  possible. 
It  did  not  complete  the  structure  of  democracy,  but  it  laid 
the  foundations  and  it  laid  them  well. 

247 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

In  the  second  place,  the  Reform  movement  had  so 
wholly  engrossed  the  activities  of  the  progressives  both 
among  the  ministerial  ranks  and  among  the  people  at  large 
that  the  passing  of  the  Bill  exhausted  their  programme. 
It  consequently  happened  that  some  years  elapsed  before 
the  necessary  spade  work  had  been  done  which  rendered 
it  possible  to  reform  entirely  and  radically  our  industries, 
our  home  life,  and  our  educational  system. 

When,  however,  one  views  the  condition  of  the  people 
at  the  beginning  of  Queen  Victoria's  reign  and  at  the  end 
one  is  confronted  with  a  change  so  remarkable  that  one 
is  compelled  to  inquire :  "  What  was  the  cause  of  this 
immense  improvement  ?  "  To  different  minds  different 
reasons  may  suggest  themselves.  One  of  the  purposes  of 
this  Part  is  to  enable  the  reader  to  see  the  extent  of  the 
change  and  to  decide  the  cause  for  himself.  The  writer 
may  be  permitted  to  express  his  view  that  it  is  due  entirely 
to  the  original  establishment  and  subsequent  extension 
of  democratic  government,  bringing  in  its  train,  as  it  did, 
the  increase  and  spread  of  education,  improvements  in 
environment  of  work  and  of  life,  and  the  more  scientific 
examination  of  the  problems  of  government. 

In  place  of  rule  by  dynasties  or  cliques  we  now  have 
more  and  more,  both  in  theory  and  practice,  the  rule  of 
able  men,  the  elected  of  the  people,  dependent  for  their 
power  on  the  people.  At  first  the  masses  are  excluded, 
they  are  ignorant,  they  are  downtrodden.  But  as  they 
rise  both  to  power  and  to  some  knowledge — still,  alas ! 
too  small — which  enables  the  gift  of  power  to  be  something 
that  is  a  true  donation  and  not  merely  a  loan,  they  influence 
more  and  more  the  trend  of  legislation.  Their  peculiar 
difficulties  and  misfortunes  begin  to  be  more  and  more 
considered.  With  the  disappearance  of  the  last  effective 
check  on  the  popular  aspirations  with  the  Parliament  Act 
of  191 1  and  the  passing  of  the  Act  giving  universal  adult 
suffrage  the  way  would  seem  to  be  open  for  the  full  ex- 
pression of  the  will  of  the  people  through  the  medium  of 
legislative  activity. 
248 


PROLOGUE 

Dean  Farrar  once  summarized  the  change  which  came 
over  the  face  of  industrial  England  during  the  reign  of 
Queen  Victoria.  His  words,  marked  by  that  eloquence 
for  which  he  was  famous,  arc  worthy  of  remembrance. 

When  the  reign  began,  apprentices  were  often  treated  with 
brutal  injustice.  Greedy  sweaters,  uncontrolled  by  any  legal 
enactment,  ground  down  the  faces  of  the  poor  ;  women,  half- 
naked,  yoked  to  trucks  like  horses,  and  boys,  half-naked,  crawling 
on  all  fours  like  dogs,  beginning  their  labours  often  at  seven 
years  old,  grew  double,  with  hideous  deformity  and  depraved 
morals,  in  the  black  galleries  of  mines.  Can  we  wonder  that 
the  intensity  of  misery  was  accentuated  by  a  fierce  hatred  of 
employers  ?  Consider  the  alleviation  produced  by  Lord 
Shaftesbury's  Ten  Hours  movement  alone,  and  by  the  Factory 
Acts.  Only  think  of  the  triumphs  that  have  been  won  in  this 
generation  for  the  children  of  England.  .  .  .  When  the  reign 
began,  little  paupers  were  beaten  and  starved  ;  naval  apprentices 
in  coalboats  and  merchant  vessels  were  subject  to  horrible 
barbarities  ;  the  poor  little  climbing  boys,  grimed  with  soot  and 
skin  disease,  were  maimed  and  suffocated  in  choked  and  crooked 
chimneys  ;  children  were  worked  in  cotton  mills  for  unbroken 
hours  which  would  have  been  crushing  to  grown  men.  They 
were  brutally  treated  in  brick  fields,  in  canal  boats,  in  agricultural 
gangs,  in  pantomimes,  in  dangerous  performances,  in  the  hands 
of  beggars  and  hawkers  and  acrobats.  Waifs  and  strays,  criminal 
and  semi-criminal — unwashed,  untaught,  unfed — weltered  in 
an  atmosphere  of  blasphemy  and  gin,  in  lairs  and  dens  of  human 
wild  beasts,  such  as  are  now  swept  away  by  the  merciful  hand  of 
law.  Like  a  vernal  breeze,  the  spirit  of  mercy  has  swept  through 
these  lurid  mists  of  contagion,  which  on  every  side  were  stagnating 
into  pestilence. 

Not  only  have  children  found  protectors,  not  only  have 
conditions  of  labour  for  child  and  adult  been  rendered 
tolerable,  and  even  easy,  since  the  passing  of  the  Reform 
Bill,  but  the  State  has  considered  with  increasing  care  and 
knowledge  the  condition  of  life  of  the  people.  The  old 
dens  and  filthy  courts  and  cellars  have  in  no  small  measure 
been  pulled  down,  and  decent  houses  have  replaced  them ; 
to  the  child  growing  up  in  a  fairer  environment  than  its 

249 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

parents  knew  the  way  has  been  opened  to  knowledge 
and  to  learning.  The  tendency  has  been  on  the  one  hand 
from  the  slum  to  the  garden  city  and  on  the  other  from  the 
ill-natured  *  minding '  in  the  dirty  factory  shed  to  the  well- 
regulated  and  controlled  tuition  of  the  modern  school ;  from 
the  secret  reading  of  forbidden  tracts  to  the  free  perusal  of 
all  kinds  of  books  now  rendered  easy  of  access  even  to  the 
humblest  through  the  medium  of  the  public  libraries. 

Poverty  is  still  with  us,  but  it  almost  seems  as  though  ';. 
its  incidence  has  changed.  The  Poor  Law  has  been  \\ 
cleansed  of  many  of  its  most  degrading  features,  and  the  ti 
State  has  begun  to  search  for  new  weapons  with  which  to  | 
combat  the  demon  of  want.  The  aged,  who  once  were  | 
permitted  to  sink  into  unmerited  indigence  and  to  suffer 
an  indignity  that  through  the  whole  of  their  lives  they 
had  toiled  to  escape,  are  no  longer  left  to  the  workhouse,  ! 
but  are  treated  as  workers  who  have  earned  their  pen-  l 
sion.  The  unfortunates  who  have  suffered  injury  through 
accident  are  no  longer  permitted  to  sink  into  the  gutter;  j 
they  are  compensated  on  a  scale  which  the  employers  of  ; 
the  early  years  of  last  century  would  have  regarded  as  i 
wildly  generous.  The  worker  who  falls  sick  and  who  has  [ 
not  kept  up  his  club  subscriptions  is  no  longer  compelled  i 
to  add  to  the  miseries  of  illness  the  fevers  of  anxiety  while  ' 
he  watches  his  sticks  of  furniture  being  removed  to  pay  ' 
for  the  necessities  of  life;  he  has  now  secured  to  him  a  i 
small  income  during  illness  and  has  the  right  to  call  for  ; 
medical  aid.  Whether  the  aid  given  is  of  the  best  depends  '\ 
upon  the  public  conscience  of  a  great  profession.  The  : 
worker  who  is  confronted  with  unemployment  is  no  longer  i 
the  victim  of  inevitable  disaster;  he  also  has  secured  to  ; 
him  a  small  income  while  the  hard  times  last.  \ 

The  improvements  that  have  been  effected  in  the  cir- 
cumstances of  life  of  the  workers  during  the  last  century  | 
must,  indeed,  appear  to  anyone  who  will  fairly  judge  the  ; 
conditions  then  and  the  conditions  now  to  be  immense.  ! 
What  are  the  causes  of  these  improvements  ?  Have  ! 
they    been    secured    by    combines    and    strikes  ?     Have  j 

250  i 


PROLOGUE 

they  been  won  at  the  point  of  the  sword  ?  Are  they 
the  creatures  of  fear  or  of  justice  ?  Each  must  hold 
his  own  opinion  on  these  matters,  but  it  is  clear  that 
the  Factory  Acts,  the  Education  Acts,  the  Workmen's 
Compensation  Acts,  The  Old  Age  Pensions  Acts,  the 
National  Insurance  Acts,  the  PubUc  Health  Acts,  and 
the  Housing  Acts  were  measures  secured  solely  by  political 
means.  The  mainspring  in  almost  all  the  above  cases  is 
to  be  found,  not  in  strikes  and  combines,  but  in  agitations 
conducted  by  humanitarians,  who  used  every  available 
means  to  bring  the  evils  to  be  combated  before  the  attention 
of  the  legislature.  The  legislature  in  turn  gave  effect 
partially  to  the  wishes  of  the  humanitarians  in  order  to 
obtain  political  credit  in  the  country.  It  is  therefore 
apparent  that  the  activities  of  men  like  Shaftesbury  took 
the  course  and  secured  the  effects  they  did  because  there 
was  now  on  the  one  hand  a  Parliament  that  listened  and 
on  the  other  hand  a  people  that  controlled.  It  is  only  in 
these  later  years,  after  most  of  the  grosser  abuses  have 
been  removed,  that  organizations  of  labouring  men  have 
attempted  to  exercise  notable  political  pressure,  and  even 
in  these  later  years  their  activities  have  mainly  been 
concerned  with  the  very  proper  but  narrow  subjects  of 
wages  and  hours. 

Throughout  this  notable  century,  though  great  reforms 
have  been  most  fiercely  fought  for,  the  fighting  has  been 
by  speech  and  reason ;  no  appeal  has  been  made  to  arms. 
The  people  are  now  firmly  in  the  saddle,  omnipotent  in 
the  State.  They  have  achieved  the  end  which  the  whole 
course  of  history  pointed  to  as  inevitable.  It  remains  now 
to  be  seen  whether  they  will  use  their  power  to  oppress  or 
to  elevate;  to  pull  down  or  to  raise  up.  We  have  no 
doubt  that  an  educated  democracy  will  use  its  powers 
gently  and  that,  despite  present  troubles,  we  are  nearing 
despised  Utopia.  The  way  does  not  lead  past  the  precipice 
of  class  warfare — we  have  seen  enough  of  that — it  leads 
through  the  groves  of  education,  of  sympathy,  and  of 
understanding. 

251 


CHAPTER  XI 

REFORM 

THE  era  which  saw  the  social  fabric  of  industrial 
England  unravelled  and  rewoven  into  a  different 
pattern  was  one  in  which,  despite  the  boasted 
antiquity  and  freedom  of  our  Constitution,  the  people  were 
politically  powerless.  The  same  forces  which  suppressed 
the  earlier  unions,  which  dispersed  the  corresponding 
societies,  and  which  passed  the  enclosure  Acts,  were 
unassailable  behind  the  stockades  of  property. 

Parliament,  that  splendid  invention  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  the  quondam  opponent  of  monarchical  absolutism, 
had  at  length,  after  its  many  battles,  fallen  captive  to  an 
aristocratic  clique  which  viewed  almost  with  equal  dislike 
and  disdain  the  pretensions  of  those  nabobs,  those  despoilers 
of  the  East,  who  sought  in  their  retirement  to  purchase 
their  way  to  power,  and  the  proletariat  who,  being  alike 
ill-educated,  docile,  and  poor,  were  passed  by  as  beings  at 
best  to  be  patronized  and  at  worst  to  be  oppressed.  It 
was  not  until  more  than  sixty  years  of  organization,  agita- 
tion, and  effort  had  brought  the  aims  of  Wilkes  and  Wyvill 
into  the  realms  of  practical  politics  that  Grey  accomplished, 
almost  by  accident,  what  the  genius  of  Pitt  had  failed  to 
secure  and  what  neither  the  energy  of  W^'vill,  Place,  Cobbett, 
and  Attwood,  the  persistence  of  Cartwright,  the  wisdom  of 
Bentham,  nor  the  influence  of  Bedford  or  Holland  had  been 
capable  of  effecting.  The  great  Reform  Bill  of  1832 
became  law  after  passing  a  House  of  Lords  notable  for  the 
absence  of  every  Tory  peer.  With  that  passing  the  old 
system  died  out  in  England  as  surely  as  it  passed  from 
France  with  the  falling  of  the  Bastille,  an  event  heralded 
252 


REFORM 

.  by  Fox  as  the  greatest  and  most  glorious  fact  in  all  history. 
i  The  past  was  dead,  the  present  had  arrived,  and  with  it 
I  that  sovereignty  of  the  people  which  but  less  than  a  century 
1  before  had  been  the  daring  hope  only  of  the  visionary. 

I  The  Unreformed  Parliament 

Before  that  change  in  the  representation  of  the  people 
jwas  effected  Parliament  was  a  body  of  513  gentlemen 
'elected  by  about  200,000  persons,  mostly  bought.  The 
I  franchise,  based  as  it  was  on  an  antique  order  and  upon 
populations  long  since  changed,  was  notable  only  for  its 
absurdities.  Cornwall  which  had  already  declined  to 
something  of  its  present  rank  could  claim  rather  more 
than  three  times  as  many  members  as  Lancashire,  now 
risen  to  the  position  of  the  second  county  of  England, 
and  but  one  member  less  than  the  whole  of  Scotland.  Sir 
Philip  Francis  could  make  the  jest  that  he  had  been 
unanimously  elected  by  the  vote  of  the  sole  elector  of 
Appleby,  while  at  Bossigny  one  family  alone  could  decide 
who  should  be  returned  as  member.  In  some  of  these 
ancient  boroughs  the  '*  sole  manufacture,"  to  use  the  words 
of  Burke,  was  "  in  members  of  ParUament,"  and  their 
streets  could  be  traced  only  by  the  colour  of  the  corn. 

Corruption 

Not  only  were  many  members  representative  of  little 
more  than  an  imaginary  electorate,  not  only  were  such 
electors  as  there  were  openly  and  shamelessly  bribed  or 
intimidated  or  overwhelmed  by  imported  voters,  but  the 
members  were  in  turn  bought  by  pensions,  places,  or 
contracts.  The  bribery  of  the  electors  was,  of  course, 
a  well-known  and  recognized  fact.  The  right  to  nominate 
to  a  seat  in  Pariiament,  like  to-day  the  presentation  to 
livings,  that  monstrous  and  evil  system,  was  occasionally 
advertised  for  sale;  it  was  included  in  the  assets  of 
bankrupts;  it  was  apprised  sometimes  at  as  low  a  figure 
as  ;^2ooo,  sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  Camelford,  at  as 
much  as   ^{^  16,000   or  ;£3 2,000   for  two   seats.     So   well 

253 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

known  and  recognized  was  the  pecuniary  value  of  the 
right,  so  near  was  it  judged  to  the  ordinary  rights  of 
property,  that  Pitt,  when  in  1785  he  sought  leave  to  intro- 
duce a  Reform  Bill,  expressed  the  idea  of  forming  a  fund 
out  of  which  to  buy  out  the  thirty-six  rotten  boroughs  that 
he  desired  to  be  disfranchised. 

The  bribery  of  members  was  equally  recognized  and 
was  considered  not  only  honourable  but  necessary  to  the 
proper  conduct  of  government.  Holland,  when  told  that 
Wyvill  was  agitating  for  the  abolition  of  placemen  and 
pensioners,  expressed  his  surprise  that  one  who  had  been 
represented  to  him  as  a  sensible  man  could  favour  such  a 
movement  when  Wyvill  himself  held  by  inheritance  a 
sinecure  at  the  Customs  worth  ;/^iooo  a  year.  The 
result  of  both  causes  was  to  place  all  political  power  in 
the  hands  of  very  small  cliques  who  could  at  once  control 
the  electors  and  the  elected.  The  aim  of  the  reformers 
was  at  first  to  purify  the  elected  and  then  enlarge  the 
electorate.  These  aims,  as  we  shall  see,  were  achieved  at 
widely  separated  times. 

Ignorance 

Before  the  condition  of  political  affairs  thus  induced  can 
be  fully  comprehended  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
in  the  eighteenth  century  the  people  were  of  necessity 
completely  ignorant  of  poHtics.  The  newspapers  were 
few  and,  thanks  to  the  sixpenny  stamp  duty,  too  dear  for 
the  people  to  purchase;  debates  in  Parliament  might  not 
be  published,  and  although  newsmen  sought  by  devious 
ways  to  acquaint  the  country  with  the  salient  facts,  it  was 
rather  the  county  than  the  country  which  had  either  the 
learning,  the  leisure,  or  the  means  to  read  the  proceedings 
thus  disclosed  by  the  language  of  suggestion  and  innuendo. 
Public  meetings  were  at  first  almost  unknown  phenomena, 
and  later  were  suppressed.  Communications  whether  by 
road  or  post  were  so  poor,  tardy,  and  rare  that  unified  action 
was  difficult  and  national  sensibility  non-existent.  As  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  one  Englishman  might  look  upon  another. 


REFORM 

as  all  but  a  few  years  ago  he  looked  upon  the  foreigner, 
as  some  one  very  different  from  himself  and  consequently 
as  some  one  to  be  feared,  disliked,  or  despised  according  to 
the  mettle  of  his  mind. 

Forms  of  Franchise 

Of  the  various  forms  of  franchise  which  were  in  existence 
during  this  period  the  county  franchise  based  on  a  freehold- 
ing  assessed  to  land  tax  and  worth  forty  shilUngs  by  the 
year  was  the  widest,  including  as  it  did  everyone  with 
certain  exceptions  who  had  a  freeholding.  Even  so, 
however,  that  numerous  class  the  copyholders,  descendants 
of  the  old  villeins  and  now  tending  to  disappear  under  the 
pressure  of  the  enclosure  movement,  was  excluded.  In 
other  words,  the  class  that  suffered  most  severely  from  the 
Agrarian  Revolution  was,  as  a  class,  disfranchised. 

When  we  turn  to  consider  the  conditions  of  the  boroughs 
the  position  is  worse.  Of  the  two  hundred  and  three 
boroughs  fifty-nine  were  scot-and-lot  or  potwalloper 
boroughs,  sixty-two  were  freemen  boroughs,  thirty-nine 
burgage  boroughs,  and  forty-three  close  corporations. 
The  nature  of  these  electoral  units  we  must  shortly  con- 
sider. 

The  first  form  of  borough  franchise  was  broad.  It 
might,  indeed,  be  said  that  every  male  adult  resident  who 
was  not  a  pauper  had  a  vote.  The  potwalloper  vote  was 
possessed  by  everyone  who  controlled  a  doorway,  supplied 
himself  with  food,  and  possessed  a  fireplace  at  which  to 
cook  his  meals;  scot-and-lot  franchise  depended  on  the 
payment  of  church  and  poor  rate  and  upon  residence 
within  the  borough  for  six  months. 

In  the  freemen  boroughs  a  somewhat  narrower  franchise 
had  developed.  There  the  voters  were  the  successors  of 
those  old  gildsmen  upon  whose  activities  the  original 
prosperity  of  the  borough  had  in  past  times  probably 
depended.  But  now,  with  a  gild  system  long  since  decayed, 
the  freemen  bore  little  or  no  resemblance  to  those  of  past 
times.     They  no  longer  represented  the  industrial  or  trade 

^5S 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  | 

population.      Their    status    could    be    achieved    by   birth, 

marriage,  apprenticeship,  or  election.  ,i 

The  burgage  boroughs  and  close  corporations  elected  | 

their  members  on  an  even  smaller  franchise.     The  latter,  ' 

a  self-elected  corporation,  chose  the  member  without  any  j 

regard  for  the  wishes  of  the  townsfolk  whose  representatives  j 

they  were  only  by  a  fiction ;  the  franchise  of  the  former  ^ 

was  exercised  only  by  those  who  were  possessed  of  burgage  l 

tenements,  tenements  which  frequently  were  unconnected  j 

with    habitations    and    sometimes    were    notional    merely.  ; 

Thus  in  the  case  of  Old  Sarum  there  were  no  houses  in  \ 

the  constituency  and  the  member  was  returned  by  seven  i 
burgage  holders. 

Property,   not  Persons,  Represented  j 

As  Mr  Veitch  remarks  in  his  valuable  Genesis  of  Parlia-  j 

mentary  Reform^  it  was  estimated  in  1793  that  seventy-one  I 

peers,   together  with   the   Lords   of  the   Treasury,   could  ' 

absolutely    nominate    ninety    members    of  the    House    of  j 

Commons ;  and  that  ninety-one  commoners  could  nominate  \ 

eighty-two  members  and  procure  the  return  of  fifty-seven.  \ 

Rather   fewer  than   two   hundred    persons    were    thus    in  \ 

a  position,   if  they   cared   to   act   in  concert,  to  secure  a  j 

majority  in  the  House.     Under  such  a  system  the  country  : 

gentleman  was  naturally  regarded  as  the  corner-stone  of  \ 

responsible  politics;  the  labouring  man  and  the  poor  man  \ 

were  regarded   as  persons    who,   having    no  stake  in  the  \ 

country,   were  not  entitled  to  have   an   opinion   upon   its  i 

government.      As    Chatham    frankly    observed    in     1776,  ,' 

"  people  are  apt  to  mistake  the  nature  of  representation,  ; 

which  is  not  of  persons,  but  of  property,  and  in  this  light  ; 

there  is  scarcely  a  blade  of  grass  that  is  not  represented."  ; 

It  was  this  attitude  of  mind  which  rendered  the  con- 
tinuance of  a  system,  admittedly  venal  and  corrupt,  accept-  ; 
able  to  a  large  body  of  respectable  opinion  not  unmindful  > 
of  the  aims,  ideals,  and  philosophy  of  the  French  reformers,  i 
It  was  considered  that  in  matters  of  government  power  : 
should  directly  increase  with  property  and  with  intellect.  [ 

256  ! 


REFORM 

The  people  were  regarded  as  too  irresponsible,  as  a  result 
of  their  poverty  and  of  their  ignorance,  to  be  permitted 
to  take  any  share  in  the  business  of  government.  Public 
opinion  rarely  existed  in  anything  but  a  latent  form,  and 
when  it  did  attempt  sullenly  to  assert  itself  it  was  ignored 
as  a  thing  possessing  neither  value  nor  power. 

Early  Reformers 

The  first  steps  which  were  taken  to  secure  the  reform 
of  Parliament  are  connected  with  the  names  of  John  Wilkes 
and  Home,  later  known  as  Home  Tooke,  when,  as  a 
means  of  securing  the  payment  of  the  debts  of  the  famous 
editor  of  the  North  Briton^  the  Society  of  the  Supporters 
of  the  Bill  of  Rights  was  founded  in  1769,  to  be  followed, 
after  the  quarrel  between  Wilkes  and  Home,  by  the 
organization  by  the  latter  of  the  Constitutional  Society. 

The  intervening  year  (1770)  had  been  notable  for 
Chatham's  tentative  efforts  toward  reform.  Animated, 
perhaps,  as  much  by  dislike  of  the  nabobs  as  by  love 
for  purity  of  administration,  he  had  deplored  the 
**  notorious  decay  of  the  internal  vigour  of  the  Constitu- 
tion," had  confessed  himself  a  convert  to  the  principle  of 
triennial  Parliaments,  and  had  without  effect  proposed  an 
increase  in  the  number  of  county  representatives.  In  the 
same  year  Dowdeswell  failed  to  secure  even  a  hearing  for 
his  Bill  to  disfranchise  the  revenue  officers,  and  in  the  year 
following  John  Sawbridge's  Bill  to  shorten  the  duration 
of  Parliaments  was  lost. 

It  was,  indeed,  hardly  to  be  hoped  that  while  the  Whigs 
— the  only  friends  of  reform — were  sharply  divided  into 
opposing  camps  anything  useful  could  be  achieved.  The 
proposal  to  disfranchise  the  revenue  officers  was  diametric- 
ally opposed  to  Chatham's  aims.  He  desired  to  dish  the 
wealthy  merchants  by  increasing  the  strength  of  the  county; 
the  revenue  officers,  public  servants  under  the  control  of 
an  aristocratic  administration,  had  proved  their  loyalty  to 
their  masters  time  after  time  in  the  past.  The  passing  of 
Dowdeswell's  Bill  would  have  meant  a  noticeable  advance 

R  257 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

in  the  direction  of  purity  of  government,  and  though  it  was 
lost  it  continued  to  form  a  part  of  the  Rockingham  poHcy. 

As  yet,  despite  the  eloquence  of  Rousseau  and  the 
heart-searchings  which  the  quarrel  with  America  had 
caused  in  the  more  progressive  statesmen,  any  question 
of  radical  reform  was  outside  the  bounds  of  practical 
politics.  When  in  1776  John  Wilkes  moved  for  leave  to 
bring  in  his  Bill  to  give  the  people  just  and  equal  represen- 
tation, he  was  treated  with  amused  contempt,  and  although 
in  the  same  year  the  notable  John  Cartwright,  the  '  Father 
of  Reform,'  commenced  his  long  campaign,  it  was  economic 
rather  than  franchise  reform  which  became  a  subject  for 
serious  consideration. 

The  Economic  Reformers 

With    war   without,    with   the   threatened   loss    of  the  1 

American  colonies,  with  dissatisfaction  within,  due  to  the  ' 

exclusion  from  office  of  the  most  eminent  statesman  of  the  | 
time,  the  views  of  those  who  urged  that  the  prime  need 

of  the   State  was   an   administration   based   upon   neither  ,1 

royal  favour  nor  bribery,  but  upon  merit,  were  acceptable  to  1 
a  strong  and  respectable  body  of  opinion.     At  first  matters 
moved  slowly.     In    1778   and    1779   Sir  Philip  Jennings 
Gierke  was  unable  to  secure  a  hearing  for  his  Bill  to  destroy 

one  form  of  corruption  by  excluding  from  Parliament  the  a 

Government  contractor,  but  in  the  latter  year  a  political  | 

organizer  of  the  first  order,  in  the  person  of  Christopher  i 

Wyvill,   at  first  a  parson   and   later  a  Yorkshire  squire,  { 

enters  upon   the   stage.     He  obtained  the  support  of  a  j 

large   part   of  the   county  in  Yorkshire  and   secured   the  I 

presentation    of  a   petition    signed    by   nearly   9000   free-  | 

holders  urging  upon  Parliament  the  need  for  the  abolition  | 

of  another  form  of  corruption,  the  place  and  the  pension.  ] 

A  similar  petition  was  presented  through  Burke  by  Bristol,  \ 

and  in  Yorkshire  a  definite  plan  of  campaign  was  organized,  < 

a  committee  was  formed,  and  a  corresponding  association  ,; 

was  created  in  the  year  following.  ' 

In  the  same  year  (1780)  an  innovation  was  made  by  | 

258  ,1 


REFORM 

Wyvill,  who  called  a  national  convention  at  which  various 
counties  were  represented  by  delegates.  At  that  meeting 
it  was  agreed  to  press  upon  Parliament  the  need  for  more 
county  members,  shorter  Parliaments,  and  the  abolition  of 
corruption,  and  steps  were  taken  to  develop  an  organiza- 
tion in  the  country.  The  pattern  of  the  Yorkshire  associa- 
tion was  copied  in  other  counties,  and  some  success  was 
achieved  in  Parliament,  where  Dunning  secured  the 
passing  of  his  famous  resolution :  "  That  the  influence  of 
the  Crown  hagAacreased,  is  increasing,  and  ought  to  be 
diminished."    'mM' 

The  result  q^  motion  moved  by  Thomas  Pitt  almost 
suggested  that  economic  reform  would  be  achieved,  but  no 
action  was  taken,  and,  despite  the  eloquence  of  Burke,  his 
Bill  to  reform  the  departments  of  State  was  rejected.  In  the 
Lords  the  Duke  of  Richmond's  more  ambitious  measure  in 
favour  of  radical  reform  was  negatived  without  a  division. 

The  failure  of  Burke,  despite  the  delivery  of  a  speech 
of  the  utmost  grandeur,  to  cure  the  State  of  a  disorder 
"which,"  to  quote  the  orator,  "  loads  us  more  than  millions 
of  debt ;  which  takes  away  vigour  from  our  arms,  wisdom 
from  our  councils,  and  every  shadow  of  authority  and 
credit  from  the  most  venerable  parts  of  our  constitution,"  ^ 
was  due  to  motives  the  strength  of  which  he  perfectly 
appreciated. 

Very  few  men  of  great  families  and  extensive  connections 
but  will  feel  the  smart  of  a  cutting  reform  in  some  close  relation, 
some  bosom  friend,  some  pleasant  acquaintance,  some  dear 
protected  dependant.  Emolument  is  taken  from  some  ;  patron- 
age from  others  ;  objects  of  pursuit  from  all.  Men,  forced 
into  an  involuntary  independence,  will  abhor  the  authors  of  a 
blessing  which  in  their  eyes  has  so  very  near  a  resemblance  to  a 
curse.  When  officers  are  removed,  and  the  offices  remain,  you 
may  set  the  gratitude  of  some  against  the  anger  of  others  :  you 
may  oppose  the  friends  you  oblige  against  the  enemies  you 
provoke.      But  services  of  the  present  sort  create  no  attachments, 

^  See  his  Speech  on  the  CEconomical  Reform,  Collected  Works  (1808 
edition),  vol.  iii,  p,  231. 

259 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

The  individual  good  felt  in  a  public  benefit  is  comparatively 
so  small,  comes  round  through  such  an  involved  labyrinth  of 
intricate  and  tedious  revolutions  ;  vv^hilst  a  present  personal 
detriment  is  so  heavy,  where  it  falls,  and  so  instant  in  its  operation, 
that  the  cold  commendation  of  a  public  advantage  never  was,  and 
never  will  be,  a  match  for  the  quick  sensibility  of  a  private  loss. 

Against  the  bias  of  interest  Burke  in  vain  pleaded  the 
wish  of  the  people,  the  need  of  the  State,  the  example  of 
France.       It  was  in  vain  that  he  reminded  the  House  that 
**  there  is  a  time  when   men  will  no^^fcer  bad  things 
because  their  ancestors  have  suffered  ^^B.     There  is  a 
time  when  the  hoary  head  of  inveterate^^wse  will  neither 
draw  reverence   nor  obtain   protection."     It  was   useless 
for  him  to  threaten  that  "  early  reformations  are  amicable  | 
arrangements  with  a  friend  in  power;   late  reformations 
are  terms  imposed  upon  a  conquered  enemy :  early  reforma- 
tions are  made  in  cold  blood ;  late  reformations  are  made  . 
under  a  state  of  inflammation."     The  House  would  have   \ 
none  of  his  reform. 

With  failure  apparent  in  Parliament  the  reformers 
redoubled  their  activities.  The  Society  for  Constitu- 
tional Information  was  formed  of  responsible  men  whose 
aim  was  to  create  a  powerful  body  of  opinion  by  the 
dissemination  of  knowledge,  and  although  Burke  took 
occasion  to  laugh  at  them  as  the  friends  of  those  publishers 
who  found  their  more  worthless  stock  lying  heavy  on  their 
hands,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  flood  of  pamphlets 
and  booklets  which  this  society  let  loose  had  its  effect. 

With  the  dissolution  of  Parliament  in  1780  the  efforts 
of  the  reformers  received  a  sharp  check.  The  new  House 
was  antipathetic.  Three  Bills  were  presented  and  were 
rejected,  but  when,  after  the  American  disasters,  North 
was  at  last  driven  from  power  in  1782  and  Rockingham 
and  Burke  held  office,  the  day  of  the  economical  reformer 
had  arrived.  Burke's  Bill  to  reform  the  departments  of 
State  and  reduce  pensions  and  places,  Crewe's  Bill  to 
disfranchise  revenue  officers,  and  Clerke's  Bill  to  disable 
contractors  from  sitting  in  ParHament,  were  all  passed. 
260 


REFORM 

Radical  Reform — First  Stage 

With  the  success  of  the  economical  reform  movement 
a  cleavage  in  the  Whig  ranks  is  visible.  The  followers  of 
Lord  Rockingham  were  satisfied  that  all  the  aims  that 
should  be  pursued  had  already  been  secured.  The 
friends  of  Chatham,  already  strengthened  for  a  season 
by  the  entrance  of  William  Pitt  into  Parliament  in 
1 78 1,  were  prenared  to  support  those  ardent  souls  who 
were  now  pi'^^^kl  fo^"  ^  radical  change  in  the  basis  of 
representation  J^HIr 

At  first,  thOTgh  Wyvill  and  Cartwright  were  most 
active  behind  the  scenes,  William  Pitt  became  the  prot- 
agonist in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  although  he  failed 
in  1782  to  secure  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of 
inquiry  the  result  of  the  division  on  the  motion  was  not 
such  as  to  cause  the  reformers  to  despair  of  early  success. 

It  was  now  decided  once  more  to  engage  in  vigorous 
propaganda  work  throughout  the  country.  The  Society 
for  Constitutional  Information,  strengthened  by  the 
meeting  at  the  Thatched  House  Tavern  in  1782,  which 
Pitt  attended,  was  once  more  active  ;  the  county  associa- 
tions were  resuscitated.  The  towns  were  circularized  ; 
constitutional  societies  were  founded  in  the  provinces. 
But  as  yet  it  was  to  the  upper  classes  that  the  reformers 
looked  almost  exclusively.  The  era  of  Place  or  Cobbett, 
of  the  thronged  meeting  and  the  cheap  press,  had  not  yet 
arrived,  and  although  the  mechanic  was  kindly  patted  on 
the  back  his  hand  was  not  sought — for  it  was  powerless. 
As  Mr  Veitch  observes,  "  Reform,  now  and  for  some  time  to 
come,  was  demanded,  not  by  the  tradesman  and  the  artisan, 
but  by  the  country  squire  and  the  professional  man." 

As  the  result  of  this  activity.  Parliament  was  in  1783 
assailed  by  numerous  petitions,  and  for  a  time  after  the 
death  of  Rockingham  and  the  accession  to  power  of 
Shelburne,  later  Marquess  of  Lansdowne  and  a  friend  of 
reform  and  of  Pitt,  success  appeared  possible  ;  but  Fox 
held  aloof  and  early  in  the  year  combined  with  North  to 

261 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

form  a  coalition  ministry  fatal  to  reform.  Before  the  end 
of  the  year,  however,  the  coalition  had  collapsed,  and  Pitt 
succeeded  only  to  find  a  party  divided  and  the  unity  of 
the  reformers  lost  in  their  disagreements  on  matters  of 
general  politics. 

Pitt's  Reform  Bill 

In  the  April  of  1785  Pitt  found  himself  strong  enough 
to  attempt  reform  and  asked  leave  to  introduce  a  measure 
which  had  as  its  underlying  purpose  tWb  formation  of  a 
fund  of  _^i, 000,000  out  of  which  to  acciijaaulate  the  means 
wherewith  to  buy  out  the  thirty-six  rotten  boroughs  repre- 
senting seventy-two  seats  which  it  was  proposed  to  dis- 
tribute among  the  counties  and  London  and  Westminster. 
The  result  was  a  bitter  disappointment.  The  House  re- 
fused leave  by  a  majority  of  74  and  Pitt  never  afterward 
attempted  to  secure  any  measure  of  Parliamentary  reform. 

A  new  factor  was  indeed  approaching  destined  very 
sensibly  to  affect  the  outlook  of  both  the  progressives  and 
the  reactionaries.  The  sullen  waters  which  had  long  been 
gathering  were  to  burst  forth  in  the  torrent  of  the  French 
Revolution,  which  swept  away  old  landmarks  not  only 
in  the  country  where  that  torrent  raged,  but  in  England 
and  Europe  also. 

Radical  Reform — Second  Stage 

At  first — from  the  fall  of  the  Bastille  to  the  flight  of 
Louis  XVI — a  very  considerable  body  of  progressive 
opinion,  even  among  the  aristocratic  classes  of  England, 
looked  with  hope  and  admiration  upon  a  movement  in 
which  they  thought  they  saw  the  prospect  of  immeasurable 
blessings  for  the  sons  of  men.  Freedom  and  liberty 
became  talismans  which  caught  the  imagination  of  many 
ardent  and  noble  minds.  The  attitude  of  England  was 
not  unlike  that  which  we  in  our  day  witnessed  when  the 
Tsarist  autocracy  was  overthrown  and  constitutional  govern- 
ment under  the  leadership  of  the  young  and  eloquent 
visionary  Karensky  for  a  moment  became  an  established 
262 


REFORM 

fact.  But  In  the  eighteenth  century  the  feeling  was  more 
intense  ;  the  events  were  nearer  at  home  and  were  not 
confused  in  the  turmoil  of  an  anxious  and  wasting  war. 
Their  like  had  never  before  been  seen,  and  men  were 
entitled  then  to  hold  hopes  which  more  than  a  century's 
experience  shows  now  to  be  ill-founded.  As  Mrs  Penninck 
wrote:  **  I  have  seen  the  reception  of  the  news  of  the 
victory  of  Waterloo  and  of  the  carrying  of  the  Reform 
Bill,  but  I  never  saw  joy  comparable  in  its  vivid  intensity 
to  that  occasioned  by  the  early  promise  of  the  French 
Revolution."  •'■ 

At  the  same  time  there  were  many  that  feared,  and  that 
fear  was  replaced  by  hatred  and  disgust  when  from  consti- 
tutional activity  the  revolutionaries  passed  in  1792  to  the 
most  violent  deeds  of  bloodshed.  Freedom  and  liberty 
were  strangled  in  the  horrors  of  the  Terror.  The  result, 
so  far  as  reform  in  England  was  concerned,  was  at  first 
to  stiffen  resistance  and  finally  to  create  a  movement  of 
repression  and  suppression  before  which  the  forces  of 
reform  melted  away. 

To  the  large  body  of  interested  politicians  who  naturally 
opposed  Parliamentary  reform,  the  French  Revolution, 
even  in  its  earlier  and  more  constitutional  phase,  provided 
a  ready  excuse  with  which  to  avoid  the  advances  of  the 
reformers.  When  in  1790  Henry  Flood  sought  to  intro- 
duce a  reform  Bill,  to  which  he  had  secured  the  conditional 
support  of  Fox,  the  revolution  in  France  was  made  an 
excuse  for  ignoring  a  measure  which  in  any  case  would 
have  been  defeated.  Even  in  the  country  the  fear  of 
moving  too  fast  and  of  sliding  into  anarchy  rendered  it 
impossible  to  revive  the  county  associations,  and  although 
the  excitement  caused  by  the  Westminster  election  and 
the  subsequent  trial  stirred  the  public  interest  anew,  this 
was  more  than  matched  by  the  flight  of  the  French  King 
on  June  20,  1791 — a  flight  which  ushered  in  the  new 
regime  in  France,  broke  up  the  Jacobins  into  two  parties, 
led  the  way  to  that  republicanism  which  resulted  in  the 
^  Quoted  from  Mr  Veitch's  Genesis  of  Parliamentary  Reform. 

263 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

proclamation   of  a  republic  on  September  22,   1792,  and 
filled  the  English  supporters  of  the  Revolution  with  dismay. 

Pitt's  Repressive  Measures 

It  was  now  that  the  Government  of  Pitt  determined  on 

the  suppression  of  those  reform  societies  which  had  been  j 

corresponding  with  the  Jacobins  of  Paris  and  had  been  j 

exchanging    platitudinous    generalities    and    international  | 

courtesies  with  the  constitutional  revolutionaries.      It  is  true  \ 

that  these  correspondences  largely  ceased  before  the  repub-  , 

lican    movement   had   begun   to    show  itself.      Talleyrand  j 

had,  in  fact,  arrived  at   a  just   estimate   of  the    situation  : 
when  he  wrote: 

The  truth  is,  the  mass  of  the  nation  is  generally  indifferent  ■ 
to  all  these  political  discussions  which  cause  so  much  stir  amongst  j 
us  ;  attached  to  its  constitution  by  ancient  prejudices,  by  habit,  j 
by  continual  comparison  of  its  lot  with  that  of  the  people  of  other  ' 
states,  and  finally  by  prosperity,  it  does  not  imagine  that  anything  j 
could  be  gained  from  a  revolution  of  which  the  history  of  England  | 
makes  it  fear  the  dangers.  ] 

But  despite  the  imaginary  nature  of  the  threat  to  ordered  i 
government,  the  outbreak  of  war  between  England  and  ] 
France  on  February  i,  1793,  determined  Pitt  to  secure  ^ 
what  in  recent  years  has  so  often  been  referred  to  as  the  i 
soHdarity  of  the  home  front.  All  forms  of  agitation  and  \ 
propaganda,  even  of  a  kind  and  for  a  purpose  which  in 
his  earlier  years  he  had  most  warmly  espoused,  the  chief  \ 
minister  now  determined  to  destroy.  His  policy  of  re-  i 
pression,  it  has  been  well  said,  was  so  readily  supported  \ 
by  the  majority  of  the  people,  despite  the  failure  of  many  ! 
of  the  State  prosecutions,  as  to  render  repression  almost  i 
unnecessary. 

In  Scotland  the  prosecutions  for  sedition  were  strongly 
pressed  by  Dundas.  Pamphleteers  and  publishers  were  . 
singled  out  for  attack,  and  some  of  the  sentences  were  ; 
of  a  most  savage  nature.  The  young  advocate,  Thomas  i 
Muir,  a  man  of  promise  whose  only  ofience  was  activity  | 
264  i 


REFORM 

in  the  pursuit  of  Parliamentary  reform,  was  sentenced  to 
transportation  for  fourteen  years,  and  T.  F.  Palmer  was 
transported  for  seven  years  after  a  trial  at  which  the  judge 
directed  the  jury  that  they  should  consider  whether  agita- 
tion to  secure  universal  suffrage  was  not  in  itself  sedition, 
universal  suffrage  tending  to  subvert  the  constitution. 

The  convention  which  had  been  called  in  1793  was 
forcibly  dissolved,  and  in  the  year  following  the  secretaries 
of  the  London  Corresponding  Society  and  the  Society 
for  Constitutional  Information  were  arrested.  The 
societies  were  broken  up,  and  with  the  passing  of  the  two 
Treason  Acts  in  1795  ^^^  movements  for  reform  were 
rendered  both  hopeless  and  dangerous.  In  1797  Home 
Tooke  wrote  to  Cartwright  that  the  cause  of  reform  was 
dead  and  buried,  and  although  Cartwright  expressed  his 
belief  in  its  resurrection,  few  possessed  his  optimism. 
Indeed,  despite  the  activities  of  Place,  Cartwright,  Bentham, 
and  Cobbett — ill-assorted  names — in  the  first  decade  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  it  was  not  until  after  Waterloo 
that  the  reform  movement  showed  any  signs  of  active 
revival.  Even,  as  in  1792,  Pitt  gained  popular  acclaim 
for  resisting  Grey's  motion  in  favour  of  the  reform  which 
but  a  few  years  before  he  had  himself  proposed.  By  18 12 
so  Httle  interest  had  the  people  in  internal  politics  and  so 
anxiously  were  all  eyes  turned  to  the  struggle  on  the 
Continent,  that  in  the  election  of  that  year  only  two  counties 
were  contested. 

Radical  Reform — Third  and  Final  Stage 

After  Waterloo  the  destruction  of  the  external  threat 
created  once  more  a  vivid  interest  in  internal  politics. 
As  Mr  J.  R.  M.  Butler  has  observed  :  "  In  the  course 
of  the  next  few  years  [reform]  was  vehemently  canvassed 
from  many  points  of  view  with  a  zeal,  a  bitterness,  and  a 
passionate  sense  of  reality,  such  as  it  had  never  aroused 
before."  ^ 

At  the  one  end  of  the  scale  Bentham,  appealing  to  reason 
^   The  Passing  of  the  Great  Reform  Bill. 

265 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

and  demanding  secret,  universal,  equal,  and  annual  suffrage, 
was  leading  a  small  and  select  band  of  intellectuals;  at  the 
other  end  Francis  Place  and   Cobbett  were  seeking  after 
the  support  of  the  masses  from  which  both  had  sprung. 
Cobbett,  to  realize  his  aims  and  to  justify  the  saying  of 
Francis   Jeffrey  that   **  the   people   have  far  more   wealth 
and  far  more   intelligence  now   than  they  had  in  former 
times ;    and,  therefore,  they  ought  to  have,  and  they  must 
have,   more   political   power,"  had   issued   his   paper,  the 
Political  Register^  with  the  news  cut  out  so  as  to  avoid  the 
stamp  duty,  at  id.,  and  could  remark  as  a  result  that  "  the 
labouring  classes  seemed  as  if  they  had  never  heard  a  word 
on  politics  before."     The  great  towns  of  the  North,  Leeds,  ] 
Manchester,    Sheffield,   and    Birmingham,   which,   in    the  ' 
movement  of  1783,  had  stood  by  apathetically,  now  began 
to  show  a  desire  so  keen  that  before  the  end  of  18 19  the  j 
so-called  Peterloo  *  massacre  '  had  occurred  as  the  result  \ 
of  the  successful  attempt  made  by  the  authorities  to  arrest  j 
Henry  Hunt  while  addressing  a  mass  reform  meeting  at  ; 
Manchester.  ^i 

Of  course,  as  yet  no  trade  combinations  were  possible  '. 
as  a  means  to  a  political  end,  though  many  of  the  leaders  \ 
of  working-class  opinion  were  bending  all  their  energies  • 
to  secure  reform,  were  indeed  casting  more  weight  into  ' 
that  struggle  than  into  the  fight  for  the  repeal  of  the  Com-  \ 
bination  Laws  or  the  improvement  of  the  factory  system,  \ 
but  the  newspapers  were  beginning  to  exercise  a  moulding  I 
effect  upon  popular  opinion  and,  in  conjunction  with  the  : 
development  of  the  political  meeting,  were  rendering  it  j 
possible  slowly  to  enlighten  the  people. 

j 
The  Need  for  Reform  ] 

The  alteration  in  the  distribution  of  the  population,  ■ 
the  grouping  of  masses  together,  making,  as  these  changes 
did,  the  old  franchise  a  palpable  anachronism  and  arousing 
some  rude  form  of  mass-will,  were  creating  an  atmosphere 
in  which  it  was  difficult  to  argue  against  reform  of  the 
boroughs. 
266 


REFORM 

In  the  counties,  as  Mr  Veitch  has  well  said : 

The  agrarian  revolutions,  which  had  in  part  preceded  the 
industrial  revolution  and  which  continued  alongside  of  it,  struck 
[a]  crushing  blow  at  the  comfortable  doctrine  of  virtual  repre- 
sentation. It  could  no  longer  be  urged  with  even  a  show  of 
reason  that  the  interests  of  the  great  landowners  who  enjoyed 
direct  representation  were  identical  with  the  interests  of  the 
villagers,  who  no  longer  shared  in  the  cultivation  of  common 
fields  or  worked  their  separate  holdings  in  the  intervals  of  manu- 
facture, and  who  were  now,  therefore,  not  even  '  virtually ' 
represented.  1 

The  need  for  reform  could  hardly  have  been  better 
shown  than  by  the  events  of  1 8 19.  At  the  general  election 
of  that  year  the  Tories,  whose  late  activities  had  aroused 
a  popular  anger  rare  in  our  political  annals,  had  been 
opposed  by  the  Whigs,  whom  the  vast  majority  of  the 
^people  desired  to  see  in  power.  The  people,  powerless 
to  affect  the  issue,  had  to  stand  by  and  see  their  enemies 
returned  once  more  to  power,  a  power  they  exercised  to 
tpass  the  notorious  Six  Acts. 

i      So  strong  was  the  feeling  of  the  country  at  this  juncture 

'that  Lambton,  later  to  become  the  first  Earl  of  Durham, 

; could  say  when  urging  Grey  to  take  a  strong  line:  "  In 

the  present  state  of  the  public  mind  we  should  sink  ten 

thousand  fathoms  deep  if  we  were  to  hold  a  meeting  and 

not  make  reform  a  principal  and  leading  topic." 

Grey,  however,  was  sensible  of  the  impossibility  on  the 
one  hand  of  securing  the  passage  of  a  Reform  Bill  while 
the  Tories  remained  in  power,  and  on  the  other  hand  of 
establishing  a  Whig  administration  while  the  King  re- 
mained alive  if  reform  were  made  a  fundamental  part 
of  their  programme.  Assured  though  he  was  of  the 
popular  demand,  he  was  not  satisfied  that  it  would  be 
possible  to  win  over  that  class  whose  influence  alone 
counted,  and  expressed  a  doubt  whether  he  or  even  Lambton 
would  live  to  see  reform  accomplished. 

^  The  Genesis  of  Parliamentary  Reform. 

267 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  ' 

But  so   powerful   was  the   current  of  popular  opinion  i 
that  even  the  Tories  began  to  doubt  whether  more  liberal  i 
institutions    would    not    soon    become    inevitable.     Then  , 
suddenly  the  picture  changes.      Two  factors,  the  one  of 
the  most  sordid  kind,  resulted  in  the  populace  forsaking 
all  active  interest  in  the  cause.      The  improvement  of  trade, 
the  disappearance  for  a  season  of  the  cause  of  economic 
discontent  and  the  popular  enthusiasm  for   the    cause   of 
Queen  Caroline,  brought  about  what  has  been  described 
as  the  "  truce  between  Parliament  and  people." 

But    gradually    the    democratic    movement    gathered    a 
fresh    and    increasing    momentum.     Lord    John    Russell 
and  Lambton  both  proposed  measures  of  reform,  one  of 
which  was  lost  only  by  31  votes,  though  in   1822,  thanks  • 
largely  to  the  eloquence  of  Canning,   a  similar  proposal  i 
was  rejected  by  a  majority  of  105.  i 

Any  hopes  that  could  have  been  held  in  the  years  from  j 
i8i5to  1825  were  lost  once  more  in  the  financial  crisis  i 
which,  combined  with  widespread  strikes  consequent  i 
upon  the  repeal  of  the  Combination  Laws,  caused  a  dis-  \ 
tress  which,  by  creating  unrest,  once  again  stiffened  the  i 
backs  of  the  reactionaries.  The  Tories,  strongly  led  by  1 
Lord  Liverpool,  had  both  the  power  and  the  wish  to  impose  \ 
their  will  upon  the  people.  With  the  death  of  Liverpool  j 
in  1827  this  strong  position  was  impaired,  for  the  great  i 
question  of  Catholic  emancipation  became  a  matter  of  j 
critical  importance  and  one  upon  which  the  continued  i 
existence  of  the  administration  was  seen  more  and  more 
to  depend. 

Catholic  Emancipation 

With  Peel  and  WelHngton  both  opposed  to  Catholic 
emancipation  and  Canning  in  favour  of  some  of  the  aspira- 
tions of  O'Connell,  the  Tories  were  seriously  weakened,  and  > 
it  was  only  the  Danaian  assistance  of  the  Whigs  which  ] 
enabled  Canning  to  form  a  ministry,  destined  in  turn  to  ] 
be  destroyed  by  the  death  of  Canning  in  the  August  of  i 
that  year.  For  a  short  period  the  Goderich  ministry  was  1 
268 


i 


REFORM 

in  office,  but  early  in  1828  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who 
but  a  short  while  before  had  declared  that  he  would  be 
insane  to  exchange  the  role  of  leader  of  armies  for  that  of 
the  leader  of  a  party,  accepted  the  duty  of  forming  a  new 
and  exclusively  Tory  Government. 

Once  more  the  question  of  Catholic  emancipation 
became  the  dominant  topic.  Already  weakened  by  the 
defection  of  the  Canningite  section  of  his  forces,  owing 
to  a  dispute  with  Huskisson,  the  unsoundness  of  the  Tory 
position  had  been  proclaimed  by  the  success  of  Lord 
John  Russell  and  the  Whigs  in  securing  the  repeal  of  the 
{Test  Act  when  Daniel  O'Connell,  a  Catholic  and  therefore 
i unable  to  sit  in  the  House  of  Commons,  was  elected  member 

I  ... 

I  for  County  Clare  as  the  result  of  the  activities  of  the 
I  Catholic  Association.  To  test  the  feeling  of  the  country,  if 
I  the  feeling  of  the  country  could  indeed  then  be  tested,  Peel 
[resigned  his  seat  at  Oxford.  He  was  defeated  in  his  old 
(Constituency  by  a  candidate  standing  for  the  *  Protestant  ' 
interest.  But  so  strong  was  the  feeling  for  Catholic 
emancipation  in  Ireland,  and  so  critical  the  situation,  that 
the  Government,  with  the  aid  of  the  Whigs,  passed  the 
Catholic  Emancipation  Bill,  at  the  same  time  disfranchising 
the  forty-shilUng  freeholders. 

The  passing  of  the  measure  raised  the  worst  passions 
in  the  High  Tory  ranks  and  split  the  party  at  a  time  when, 
as  Mr  Butler  observes,  "  the  stoutest  union  was  needed  to 
stem  the  rising  tide  of  democratic  feeling." 

The  Moulding  of  Public  Opinion 

As  yet,  however,  the  feeling  in  the  country  in  favour  of 
reform  was  too  amorphous  to  persuade  such  a  cautious 
leader  as  Lord  Grey  to  stake  all  upon  a  bold  declaration 
of  policy.  The  Whigs,  though  united  on  the  question  of 
Catholic  emancipation,  were  divided  upon  the  far  more 
vital  issue  of  Parliamentary  reform.  The  King  was 
antagonistic,  and  the  activities  of  the  Radicals  and  the  indis- 
cretions of  such  Radical  leaders  as  Cobbett,  now  avowedly 
preaching  a  class  war,  were    antipathetic  not  only  to  the 

269 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

King  and  the  Tories,  but  to  many  of  the  Whigs  also.  With  • 
Grey,  indeed,  it  has  been  well  said  that  "  political  liberty  i 
did  not  mean  political  equality."  | 

The  first  definite  movements  in  the  direction  of  reform  i 
did  not  therefore  occur  in  Government  circles,  but  among  \ 
the  masses  of  the  people.     Once  again  we  are  in  an  atmo- 
sphere of  political  organization  with  such  men  as  Place, 
Cobbett,  and  above  all,  Attwood,  to  the  fore  as  the  moulders 
of  public  opinion  and  as  the  engineers  of  the  machinery 
by  means  of  which  expression  was  given  to  that  opinion. 
By  means  of  the  press  and  by  meetings  held  in  all  parts  i 
of  the  country,  the  question  of  reform  had  already  been  '; 
brought    prominently    before    the    masses    when    a    great  •; 
impetus  was  given  to  the  popular  movement  by  the  forma-  ■• 
tion,  on  January  25,   1830,  of  the  Birmingham  Political  j 
Union  by  Thomas  Attwood,  a  wealthy  banker  and  a  man  j 
to  whose  activities  the  final  success  of  the  movement  was  | 
in  no  small  measure  due.  ! 

The  avowed  object  of  the  B.P.U.  was  "  to  obtain  by  ■ 
every  just  and  legal  means  such  a  reform  in  the  Commons' 
House  of  Parliament  as  may  ensure  a  real  and  effectual 
representation  of  the  lower  and  middle  classes  of  the  people 
in  that  House."     It,  in  fact,  secured  in  some  degree  that  > 
union  between  the  aims  of  the  middle  and  of  the  lower  l 
classes  which  hitherto  had  not  existed,  and  by  showing  the  ; 
way  to  other  towns  and  districts  of  the  country  greatly  | 
strengthened  the  hands  of  the  reformers.  i 

Unlike  the  associations  founded  by  Wyvill,  which  had  1 
as  their  backbone  the  county,  the  political  unions  which  i 
now  sprang  up  all  over  the  country  were  essentially  expressive  ' 
of  the  desires  of  the  masses,  and  as  was  usual  in  such  cases,  1 
their  strength  was  greatest  when  trade  was  at  its  worst  ^ 
and  distress  was  most  pronounced.  To  many  of  the  ; 
leaders  of  the  Whigs,  indeed,  it  seemed  that  the  whole  of  ' 
the  solidarity  of  the  unions  depended  less  upon  political  j 
than  upon  economic  grievance,  and  it  was  not  unnaturally  ] 
thought  that  with  a  revival  of  trade  the  popular  movement  ' 
in  favour  of  reform  would  collapse. 
270 


REFORM 

The  Events  of   1830 

In  any  case,  with  a  king  upon  the  throne  who  was 
unalterably  opposed  to  progressive  democracy  and  with  a 
party  in  power  united  in  its  desire  to  resist  reform,  any 
attempt  to  pass  a  measure  even  of  moderate  reform  was 
impossible,  and  neither  Blandford's  nor  Russell's  Bill, 
introduced  in  February  1830,  achieved  any  success,  though 
Russell's  very  moderate  proposals  were  only  lost  by 
48  votes  in  the  Commons.  The  true  temper  of  the 
House  was,  however,  shown  by  the  rejection  of  O'Connell's 
Bill  in  favour  of  universal  suffrage,  which  was  introduced 
on   May  28,  and  was  lost  by  306  votes. 

In  the  following  month  George  IV  died,  and  with  the 
accession  of  the  sailor-king  William  IV  one  great  obstacle 
[to  reform  was  removed.  The  election  which  followed 
in  the  July  of  1830  was  seen  to  be  a  critical  one.  The 
price  of  seats  rose  enormously.  Sometimes  as  much  as 
;^2o,ooo  or  ;/^3o,ooo  was  paid  for  a  single  seat.  But 
though  money  fought  hard  for  the  retention  of  the  old  order, 
the  spade-work  of  Place,  of  Cobbett,  and  of  Attwood  was 
beginning  to  tell.  They  were  shortly  to  receive  unex- 
pected assistance  from  an  extraordinary  and  unprecedented 
event. 

Europe  has  in  the  past  been  not  unacquainted  with 
revolutions,  and  such  revolutions,  resulting  as  they  almost 
invariably  did  in  many  excesses  and  much  bloodshed, 
have  proved  over  and  over  again  the  greatest  enemies  to 
progress.  We  have  seen  how  the  Terror  had  extinguished 
the  hopes  of  the  early  reformers.  But  now  the  tyrannies 
of  Charles  X  had  resulted  in  a  spontaneous  rising  which 
in  three  days  had  overthrown  the  monarchy  and  placed 
the  middle  and  lower  classes  of  France  in  the  position  of 
power.  The  Edinburgh  Review  showed  a  clear  fore- 
sighted  vision  when  it  declared :  '*  The  battle  of  English 
liberty  has  been  fought  and  won  at  Paris."  Brougham 
could  point  the  moral  in  a  sentence  so  typical  of  the  man : 
"  The  French  glorious   revolution  is  most  advantageous 

271 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

to  our  cause,  because  it  denounces  wrath  and  destruction 
on  those  who  would  by  force  withstand  the  popular  opinion." 
Its  very  moderation  underlined  the  lesson  and  disarmed 
the  moderate  men  who  throughout  our  history  have  exer- 
cised so  commanding  a  place  in  the  councils  of  the 
nation. 

With  the  reassembling  of  Parliament  it  was  generally 
agreed  that  affairs  had  taken  on  a  different  aspect.  Many 
Tories,  unmindful  of  the  attitude  of  their  chief,  were 
for  moderate  reform.  The  temper  of  the  people  was 
sufficiently  obvious,  although  in  those  days  a  general 
election  did  not  declare  from  the  housetops  which  party 
had  won  and  which  had  lost.  On  November  2  Wellington 
declared  himself. 

Wellington's  Speech 

During  the  debate  on  the  Address  in  answer  to  the  King's 
Speech,  the  Duke,  answering  in  detail  the  speech  just 
delivered  by  Grey,  found  occasion  to  remark  as  follows : 

The   noble   Earl   had   alluded   to   the   propriety   of  effecting  ! 
Parliamentary   Reform.     The   noble   Earl    had,    however,    been 
candid    enough    to  acknowledge  that  he  was  not  prepared  with 
any  measure  of  reform,  and  he  could  have  no  scruple  in  saying 
that  his  Majesty's  Government  was  as  totally  unprepared  with 
any  plan  as  the  noble  Lord.     Nay,  he,  on  his  own  part,  would 
go  further,  and  say  that  he  had  never  read  or  heard  of  any  measure 
up  to  the  present  moment  which  could  in  any  degree  satisfy  his 
mind  that  the  state  of  the  representation  could  be  improved  or 
be  rendered  more  satisfactory  to  the  country  at  large  than  at  the  ^ 
present  moment.      He  would  not,  however,  at  such  an  unseason-   | 
able    time    enter  upon  the  subject  or  excite   discussion,  but  he  | 
should  not  hesitate  to  declare  unequivocally  what  were  his  senti- 
ments upon  it.      He  was  fully  convinced  that  the  country  possessed 
at  the  present  moment  a   Legislature  which   answered  all   the   \ 
good  purposes  of  legislation,  and  this  to  a  greater  degree  than  any   I 
Legislature  ever  had  answered   in  any  country  whatever.      He    j 
would  go  further    and  say  that  the  Legislature  and  the  system    1 
of  representation  possessed  the  full  and  entire  confidence  of  the    | 
country — deservedly    possessed    that    confidence — ^and    the    dis-    i 

272  i 


REFORM 

cussions  in  the  Legislature  had  a  very  great  influence  over  the 
opinions  of  the  country.  He  would  go  still  further  and  say 
that  if  at  the  present  moment  he  had  imposed  upon  him  the 
duty  of  forming  a  Legislature  for  any  country,  and  particularly 
for  a  country  like  this,  in  possession  of  great  property  of  various 
descriptions,  he  did  not  mean  to  assert  that  he  could  form  such  a 

1  Legislature  as  they  possessed  now,  for  the  nature  of  man  was 
incapable  of  reaching  such  excellence  at    once  ;    but  his  great 

'  endeavour  would  be  to  form  some  description  of  Legislature  which 
would  produce  the  same  results.  The  representation  of  the 
people  at  present  contained  a  large  body  of  the  property  of  the 
country,  and  in  which  the  landed  interests  had  a  preponderating 
influence.     Under  these  circumstances,  he  was  not  prepared  to 

I    bring  forward  any  measure  of  the  description  alluded  to  by  the 

I  noble  Lord.  He  was  not  only  not  prepared  to  bring  forward  any 
measure  of  this  nature,  but  he  would  at  once  declare  that  as  far 

1    as  he  was  concerned,  as  long  as  he  held  any  station  in  the  govern- 

I    ment  of  the  country,  he  should  always  feel  it  his  duty  to  resist 

'    such  measures  when  proposed  by  others. 

This  absolute  denial  of  all  reform  resulted,  to  use  the 

vvords  of  Lord  John  Russell,  in  a  "  dangerous  excitement  " 

imong   the    people.     The   words   are   apt,    for   although 

:here  were  riots  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  it  was 

'rather  to  hunger  and  distress  than  to  political  feeling  that 

lets  of  rebellion  and  insurrection  could  be  traced.     The 

refusal  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  to  have  any  hand  in 

^;he  reform  of  Parliament,  though  it  weakened  his  adminis- 

^.ration  and  eventually  resulted  in  its  downfall,  did  not  at 

:he  moment  cause  any  overt  acts  of  rebellion.     But  the 

,iir  was   electrical.      The  slightest  incident   might  at  any 

[moment  have  precipitated  a  revolution.     The  state  of  the 

country,  so  belauded  for  the  perfection  of  its  constitution, 

was  indeed  deplorable.     The  Russian  ambassadress  could 

report    of    this    period    that    "  The    aristocracy    rolls    in 

wealth  and  luxury  while  the  streets  of  London  and  the 

highways  of  the  country  swarm  with  miserable  creatures 

covered  with   rags,   barefooted,   having   neither  food   nor 

shelter."     Starvation   was   a   matter  of  daily   occurrence. 

Distress,  both  rural  and  urban,  was  a  commonplace.     The 

S  273 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Government,  placed  in  power  by  a  narrow  clique,  was 
opposed  to  the  wishes  of  the  vast  majority  of  the  people, 
and  was  so  contemptuous  of  that  opinion  as  to  flout  it 
deliberately. 

There  is  abundant  evidence  to  show  that  the  Duke's 
speech  on  reform  was  to  some  extent  unpremeditated  and 
had  not  been  discussed  with  his  colleagues.  Its  delivery 
caused  consternation  to  many  of  them,  and  it  was  realized 
that  the  Duke  had  gone  too  far.  Subsequent  events 
showed  that  the  administration  could  not  survive  the 
popular  clamour  that  arose.  By  November  i6  the  King 
had  been  forced  to  send  for  Lord  Grey. 

Lord  Grey 

From  now  onward  the  history  of  the  passing  of  the 
first  Reform  Bill  centres  around  this  cold  and  cautious 
aristocrat,  who  in  his  own  age  was  regarded  as  the  man 
who  had  sold  his  class  and  who  lives  to-day  as  a  far-sighted 
statesman  who  safely  guided  the  frail  craft  of  reform  past 
the  shoals  of  interest  and  the  rocks  of  party  strife.  As  Sir 
George  Trevelyan  has  observed,  it  is  almost  impossible 
for  people  now  living  to  realize  the  difficulties  of  the  task 
Grey  accomplished  in  1830-2,  the  immensity  of  the  chasm 
which  he  bridged,  or  his  need  for  stressing  the  conservative 
elements  of  his  Government  in  order  to  persuade  the  King 
and  the  aristocracy  to  surrender  to  the  people. 

On  the  one  hand  stood  as  enemies  the  Tories,  on  the 
other  hand  the  Radicals.  To  approach  the  Radicals  was 
to  render  it  impossible  to  obtain  royal  support,  for  even 
William,  though  more  liberal  than  his  predecessor,  both 
feared  and  hated  the  Radicals.  To  put  forward  a  moderate 
measure  meant  a  split  within  the  reform  ranks ;  to  hazard 
a  measure  of  a  radical  nature  appeared  hopeless.  ^But 
despite  all  difficulties,  Grey  succeeded  in  forming  a  coalition 
ministry  strong  in  texture  and  sufficiently  progressive  to 
fight  for,  or  at  least  to  tolerate,  a  Reform  Bill  which  almost 
equalled  the  desires  of  the  Radicals.  It  would,  however, 
have  been  fatal  to  let  it  appear  that  the  Bill  was  dependent 
274 


REFORM  I 

upon  Radical  opinion  or  support.  No  Radicals  were  in- 
cluded in  the  Cabinet,  which  was  almost  exclusively  aristo- 
cratic in  personnel.  The  illusion  was  skilfully  created  that 
a  '  safe  '  Government  had  arrived  with  a  *  safe  '  measure 
which  would  not  go  uncomfortably  far.  It  was  generally 
believed  by  the  Tories  that  Grey  would  play  for  safety 
and  that  his  very  caution  would  destroy  his  party  before 
the  year  was  out. 

By  February  1831  the  Bill  had  been  drafted,  agreed,  and 
submitted  to  the  King  for  his  provisional  approval.  Grey 
had  indeed  played  for  safety,  but  in  his  view  only  a  measure 
of  the  most  extensive  description,  a  bill  which  would  gather 
to  its  support  an  immense  volume  of  opinion  throughout 
the  kingdom,  could  possibly  succeed  in  forcing  its  way 
through  the  mass  of  opposition  that  would  be  placed  in  its 
path.  The  draft  prepared  by  Lord  John  Russell  and 
agreed  to  by  the  Cabinet  was  indeed  far-reaching.  The 
nomination  boroughs  were  swept  away  without  compensa- 
tion ;  boroughs  of  which  the  population  was  below  a 
certain  minimum  were  disfranchised ;  the  county  members 
were  increased;  a  ^/^lo  property  qualification  was  created 
for  all  boroughs.  Borough-mongers  and  rotten  boroughs 
were  simply  swept  aside.  It  should  be  noted,  however, 
that  the  vote  was  given  not  to  the  working  classes, 
but  to  the  middle  classes.  The  working  classes  had  to 
wait  another  thirty-six  years  before  they  in  turn  were 
enfranchised. 

By  January  30,  1831,  the  King  and  the  Cabinet  had 
both  been  committed  and  on  the  20th  of  the  next  month 
the  Tory  leaders  met  at  Peel's  house  and  decided  not  to 
offer  any  resistance  on  the  introduction  of  the  Bill,  the 
contents  of  which  were  not  known  to  them,  but  were 
believed  to  be  of  a  mild  kind. 

Introduction  of  the  Bill 

On  March  2,  1831,  Lord  John  Russell  introduced  the 
Bill  into  the  House  of  Commons.  The  occasion  was 
one  of  the  most  dramatic  in  Parliamentary  history.     To 

275 


# 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 


all  it  was  apparent  that  a  turning-point  had  been  reached 
in  the  constitutional  history  of  the  country,  perhaps  in 
the  history  of  the  democratic  institutions  of  mankind. 
Around  there  sat  men  who  owed  their  seats  and  their  power 
to  influence,  money,  and  corruption,  and  who  were  aware 
that  the  passing  of  the  measure  meant  their  political  death ; 
there  were  other  men  who  for  long  years  had  struggled 
with  all  the  strength  of  their  will  and  mind  for  those  very 
principles  which  but  yesterday  had  seemed  as  far  off  as  ever, 
but  now  had  sprung  as  from  some  magic  box  complete 
in  every  part.  Derisive  laughter  and  amazed  delight, 
both  were  called  forth  by  Lord  John's  simple  reading  of 
the  clauses.  When  at  length  the  schedules  containing 
the  names  of  the  destroyed  boroughs  were  reached  the 
anger  of  the  borough-mongers  and  their  satellites  reached 
its  height.  But  the  anger  thus  created  was  a  thing  small 
and  altogether  contemptible  beside  the  vast,  widespread, 
and  overwhelming  joy  which  was  apparent  among  the 
people  when  the  terms  of  the  Bill  were  at  length  known. 
The  leaders  of  the  working  classes,  men  such  as  Francis 
Place  and  Cobbett,  were  enthusiastic  in  the  support  of  a 
measure  which,  though  not  radical  in  name,  was  radical 
in  nature.  The  Tories  regarded  themselves  as  betrayed. 
The  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  determined  to  fight 
to  the  last  the  battle  of  their  patrons. 

Grey  was  not  unmindful  of  the  forces  arrayed  against 
him.  In  the  Commons  he  had  but  little  support,  and  in 
the  Lords  the  Reform  Bill  appeared  to  have  no  chance 
of  being  passed  without  serious  and  fatal  amendment.  It 
seems  to  have  been  the  deliberate  opinion  of  the  chief 
minister  that  before  the  Bill  could  be  placed  upon  the 
Statute  Book  a  further  appeal  to  the  country  would  have 
to  be  made.  In  such  an  event  it  was  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance that  he  should  go  to  the  country  as  a  minister 
in  power,  for  in  that  event  the  ministerial  influence  so 
important  in  the  rotten  boroughs  would  be  cast  on  his 
side.  The  subsequent  events  of  1831  up  to  the  time  of 
the  dissolution  of  Parliament  are  mainly  concerned  with 
276 


REFORM 


* 


the  manoeuvres  of  Grey  on  the  one  hand  and  of  the  Tories 
on  the  other  to  obtain  or  prevent  a  dissolution  before  resig- 
nation. 

Dissolution  of  Parliament 

That  the  Bill  could  not  be  passed  without  further  moral 
support  obtained  from  the  country  was  apparent  when,  on 
March  22,  1831,  the  second  reading  was  carried  by  one 
vote.  On  April  19  the  ministry  was  at  length  defeated 
on  an  amendment  and  Parliament  was  suddenly  and 
dramatically  dissolved. 

Both  the  form  and  mode  of  this  dissolution  are  notable. 
It  has  for  centuries  been  a  recognized  part  of  the  constitu- 
tion that  the  king  has  the  right  both  to  summon  and  dismiss 
Parliament,  and  although  the  exercise  of  that  right  has 
become  a  matter  more  and  more  controlled  by  the  advice 
of  his  ministers,  it  is  a  prerogative  which  had  never  been 
directly  encroached  upon  by  Parliament  itself.  At  this 
juncture,  however,  the  Tories  had  reached  a  state  of 
rancour  in  which  constitutional  observances  were  lightly 
regarded,  and  a  motion  was  under  consideration  in  the 
House  of  Lords  directed  against  dissolution. 

Grey  realized  at  once  that  a  valuable  weapon  had  been 
placed  in  his  hands.  He  was  not  slow  in  pointing  out 
to  his  Majesty  how  gross  an  attack  had  been  made  upon 
the  Prerogative.  The  King  was  visibly  affected,  and 
hearing  that  the  royal  coach  was  not  immediately  available, 
declared  that  he  would  resort  to  a  hackney  cab  rather  than 
delay  by  a  moment  a  personal  visit  to  the  House  of  Lords. 
•^  The  King's  sudden  appearance  at  a  critical  juncture 
was  itself  a  notable  event,  but  the  text  of  the  message  he 
came  to  deliver  is  one  that  should  not  lightly  be  forgotten 
by  those  who  live  in  a  free  democracy.  '*  My  lords  and 
gentlemen,  I  have  come  to  meet  you  for  the  purpose  of 
proroguing  this  Parliament,  with  a  view  to  its  immediate 
dissolution.  /  have  been  induced  to  resort  to  this  measure 
for  the  -purpose  of  ascertaining  the  sense  of  my  people." 

These  words  were   prophetic  of  a  future  age.     They 

277 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

mark  the  transition  from  the  past  to  the  present.  The 
people  were  at  length  coming  into  their  own.  Hitherto 
the  masses  had  had  to  stand  by  and  see  Governments  they 
detested  returned  to  power;  they  had  had  to  see  measures 
affecting  their  happiness,  their  well-being,  their  very  lives,  i 
flung  out  or  treated  with  amused  contempt.  Even  now, 
when,  as  many  thought,  the  fate  of  the  country  and  the 
prosperity  of  all  depended  upon  the  passing  of  the  measure 
introduced  by  Grey's  Government,  the  vast  majority  of  the 
people  had  to  stand  on  one  side  and  observe  their  enemies 
buy  up  votes  under  their  very  noses.  In  Scotland  rebellion 
was  narrowly  averted.  In  England  every  effort  was  made 
by  argument  and  social  pressure  by  the  people  to  obtain  the 
return  of  reform  candidates.  The  efforts  of  the  reformers 
were  not  in  vain.  The  Government  was  returned  with  a 
majority  of  136  pledged  to  support  the  Bill. 

The  New  Reform  Parliament 

Even  now,  however,  the  way  was  not  clear.  Many 
things  had  been  said  and  done  in  the  course  of  the  elections 
which  had  opened  the  eyes  of  those  who  hitherto  had  not 
seen  whither  they  were  tending.  The  King  was  alarmed ; 
the  less  progressive  elements  in  the  Cabinet  were  with 
difficulty  restrained  from  declining  to  go  either  so  far  or 
so  fast.  But  Grey  succeeded  in  standing  firm  and  in  per- 
suading his  followers  that  it  was  necessary  for  all  to  stand 
together,  for  they  were  irrevocably  committed. 

The  Lords 

By  July  6,  1831,  the  Bill  had  passed  the  House  of 
Commons  by  a  majority  of  136,  and  after  deliberations  in 
Committee  drawn  out  to  the  fullest  extent  by  the  opponents ; 
of  the  measure,  during  which  the  temper  of  the  populace; 
grew  more  and  more  heated,  the  Bill  was  at  length  intro- 
duced into  the  House  of  Lords  early  in  October.  For 
five  days  it  was  debated  and  was  eventually  thrown  out 
by  a  majority  of  41. 

It  was  too  late.  The  time  had  passed  when  resistance- 
278 


REFORM 

could  more  than  delay  for  a  short  period  a  measure  which 
all  sections  of  the  community,  apart  from  the  narrow 
privileged  classes,  demanded.  As  Sir  George  Trevelyan 
remarks :  "  The  one  real  chance  for  the  Tories  of  success- 
fully resisting  the  Bill  was  to  provoke  a  class  war,  which 
would  end  in  rallying  all  the  *  haves  '  to  close  their  ranks 
in  self-defence  against  the  'have-nots.'  "  But  in  truth  this 
danger  was  mitigated  by  the  fact  that  both  *  haves  '  and 
'  have-nots  '  were  joined  in  enmity  against  a  privileged 
class  whose  powers  controlled  the  destinies  of  both. 

For  a  time,  however,  matters  assumed  an  ugly  appearance. 
The  King  refused  to  create  peers  in  quantity ;  the  Govern- 
ment refused  to  recede;  the  people  showed  their  desires 
and  displeasure  in  riots  and  demonstrations.  Apart  from 
politics  the  condition  of  the  country  was  deplorable. 
Strikes,  want,  illness,  and  disturbances  marked  this  fateful 
year.  A  new  Bill,  designed  to  enable  the  Lords  to  save 
their  face  by  passing  it  as  a  thing  different,  though  in  truth 
the  same  as  that  already  rejected,  was  introduced  and  passed 
in  the  Commons  in  the  December  of  1831,  and  when  the 
House  adjourned  for  the  Christmas  recess  it  was  still 
uncertain  what  the  fate  of  the  Bill  would  be. 

The  opening  month  of  1832  is  marked  by  manoeuvres 
on  the  part  of  Grey  to  obtain  the  King's  provisional  assent 
to  the  creation  of  peers  should  the  Lords  prove  immovable. 
That  consent  was  obtained  on  January  15,  1832.  In 
April  the  Bill  was  again  debated  in  the  Lords  and  the 
second  reading  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  nine  in  the 
early  morning  of  April  14.  At  length  the  way  appeared  to 
be  open  to  the  passing  of  the  measure,  but  the  opponents 
of  the  Bill  had  not  yet  exhausted  their  resources. 

The  Fall  of  Grey 

It  was  now  generally  agreed  that  the  Bill  must  be  passed 
substantially  in  the  form  as  drafted,  but  the  Lords  deter- 
mined that  it  should  not  be  passed  by  the  Whigs.  It 
appeared  that  the  Bill  would  be  lost  in  Committee,  and  when 
the  King  was  pressed  to  create  peers  sufficient  to  overcome 

279 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

all  obstacles  he,  despite  his  approval  in  the  preceding 
January,  declined  to  exercise  his  power.  This  involved 
the  resignation  of  Grey's  ministry,  but  the  King  requested 
it  to  remain  in  office  until  a  new  ministry  could  be 
formed. 

The  news  that  Grey  had  fallen  and  that  the  Duke  was 
likely  once  more  to  be  entrusted  with  the  government 
created  an  outburst  of  rage  among  the  people  which  showed 
its  intensity  in  its  very  coldness.  That  revolution  would 
have  broken  out  and  swept  all  before  it  in  a  torrent  of 
seething  discontent  is  apparent.  But  the  masses  could  not 
believe  that  the  King  and  the  aristocracy  were  so  ignorant 
of  the  true  state  of  the  people's  will  or  so  unmindful  of 
the  weight  and  force  of  the  people's  anger  as  to  be  prepared 
to  refuse  that  which  was  demanded  with  a  unanimity 
almost  complete. 

Grey's  Return  to  Power 

Neither  rioting  nor  disturbances  broke  out,  but  work 
was  suspended,  and  up  and  down  the  country  all  classes 
were  organizing  so  that  rebellion  might  be  universal  and 
complete  immediately  the  reactionaries  entered  office. 
So  clear  was  the  intention  of  the  masses,  so  dangerous  the 
position  of  those  who  should  attempt  to  withstand  it,  so  use- 
less further  resistance,  that  Wellington  found  it  impossible 
to  form  a  Cabinet,  and  on  May  1 5  Grey  was  again  sent  for. 

It  was  the  King's  hope  that,  now  that  the  last  Tory 
effort  to  influence  the  course  of  reform  had  proved  abortive, 
Wellington  would  assist  him  by  abandoning  all  further 
opposition,  but  the  Duke  maintained  his  attitude.  It  con- 
sequently became  necessary  for  the  King  to  compel  the 
further  progress  of  the  Bill,  and  he  finally  declared  that : 
"  His  Majesty  authorizes  Earl  Grey,  if  any  obstacles  should 
arise  during  the  further  progress  of  the  Bill,  to  submit  to 
him  a  creation  of  peers  to  such  extent  as  shall  be  necessary 
to  enable  him  to  carry  the  Bill."  The  threat  proved 
sufficient,  and  on  June  4,  1832,  the  Bill  passed  its  third 
reading  and  three  days  later  received  the  royal  assent. 
280 


REFORM 

Results  of  Reform 

The  effect  of  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832  was  to  alter 
entirely  the  centre  of  gravity  of  English  politics.  The  cynic 
may  declare  that  in  effect  it  was  now  necessary  to  bribe 
millions  instead  of  hundreds  of  thousands,  but  the  truth 
is  rather  seen  when  we  observe  why  bribes  are  given. 
In  the  days  before  the  Reform  Bill  government  was  in 
the  hands  of  a  clique  which  bribed  a  narrow  electorate 
to  supply  wiUing  tools  to  carry  out  that  clique's  desires. 
The  clique  was  composed  for  the  most  part  of  men  of  the 
highest  character  and  respectable  attainments,  inspired 
with  a  true  love  for  the  country  they  knew.  They  desired 
to  extend  the  power  and  prestige  of  that  country.  But  they 
were  ignorant  or  careless  of  the  wants  and  desires  of  the 
majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  country.  In  a  word, 
their  country  was  a  land  peopled  with  landed  proprietors 
possessing  retainers,  and  the  masses  were  regarded  as  an 
inconvenient  excrescence  on  the  body  politic.  When  the 
clique  bribed  they  bribed  to  secure  the  interests  of  their 
order. 

The  House  of  Lords,  the  stronghold  of  this  clique, 
had  ceased  to  be  a  body  representative  of  the  ancient 
nobility  of  the  realm.  As  J.  R.  Green  so  well  remarks, 
up  to  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  House 
of  Lords 

had  been  a  small  assembly  of  great  nobles,  bound  together  by 
family  or  party  ties  into  a  distinct  power  in  the  State.  From 
this  time  it  became  the  stronghold  of  property,  the  representative 
of  the  great  estates  and  great  fortunes  which  the  vast  increase  of 
English  wealth  was  building  up.^ 

It  is  manifest  that  such  being  the  state  of  the  case,  with 
a  plutocracy  in  control,  it  could  not  have  remained  possible 
for  the  masses  which  served  that  plutocracy,  and  whose 
private  interests  were  in  some  measure  opposed  to  those 
of  their  masters,  to  remain  under  the  sole  political  control 

1  Short  History  of  the  English  People. 

281 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

of  their  antagonists.  The  interests  of  the  governing 
class  were  not  merely  not  identical  with  the  interests  of 
the  people,  they  were  frequently  definitely  opposed  thereto. 
That  fact  made  itself  abundantly  clear.  The  House  of 
Lords  for  the  first  time  became  definitely  Conservative. 
Measures  were  passed  restraining  combination ;  abolishing 
ancient  measures  designed  to  secure  a  standard  of  life 
without  substituting  anything  therefor;  the  wage-earner 
was  denied  education,  compelled  to  work  for  long  hours 
and  at  insufficient  wages ;  he  was  exploited  and  abused. 
The  governing  clique  was  beginning  to  take  the  view  that 
the  interest  of  the  country  was  best  advanced  by  regarding 
the  rights  of  property  rather  than  the  rights  of  the  people. 
The  electorate  was  bribed  to  return  to  power  those  who 
would  protect  not  the  people,  but  the  people  with  property. 

Under  the  new  regime^  as  modified  from  time  to  time, 
it  has  without  question  been  the  desire  of  successive 
Governments  to  attract  votes.  Measure  after  measure 
has,  without  doubt,  been  put  upon  the  Statute  Book  by 
men  firmly  convinced  that  the  measure  was  not  calculated 
to  serve  the  best  interests  of  the  country.  Such  Acts 
have  been  offered  to  the  electorate  as  bribes.  But  this 
form  of  corruption  is  very  different  in  its  effect  from  the 
former  kind.  It  secures  the  passing  of  measures 
acceptable  to  the  people,  and  it  degrades  the  corrupters 
rather  than  the  corrupted.  In  it,  however,  one  observes 
the  principal  danger  of  democratic  government. 

It  is  the  good  fortune  of  England  that  she  has  been 
consistently  progressive,  but  has  progressed  slowly.  Had 
adult  suffrage  been  granted  in  1832,  as  many  desired,  it  is 
not  improbable  that  the  evils  of  the  change  would  have 
outweighed  the  good.  The  masses  of  the  people  were 
then  almost  completely  ignorant;  they  would  have  fallen 
a  ready  prey  to  any  demagogue  prepared  at  all  costs  to 
purchase  power.  Their  voting  power  could  have  been 
exploited  to  the  uttermost  in  the  interest  of  private  gain 
and  national  ruin.  What  absurdities  and  excesses  might 
have  resulted  is  apparent  to  a  generation  which  has  seen 
282 


REFORM 

the  effect  of  giving  political  power  to  the  illiterate 
peasantry  of  Russia.  They  fell  a  prey  to  those  who 
would  most  vilely  corrupt. 

Extension  of  the  Franchise 

In  Great  Britain,  however,  political  sagacity,  or,  it  may 
be,  the  presiding  genius  of  our  race,  saw  fit  to  order  other- 
wise. Political  power  was  at  first  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  middle  classes  already  sufficiently  educated  to  be 
able  to  choose  their  representatives  with  discretion.  With 
the  spread  of  education  the  time  came  when  the  class  of 
persons  competent  to  vote  was  greatly  extended,  and  the 
newcomers  were  in  turn  accepted  into  the  ranks  of  the 
politically  free.  It  has  been  the  good  fortune  of  this 
country  that  the  power  to  vote  has  followed  in  the  path 
of  the  power  to  vote  intelligently.  Had  it  been  otherwise, 
England,  instead  of  being  in  the  van  of  democratic  progress, 
might  have  proved  an  awful  example  to  which  all  the 
supporters  of  autocracy  could  have  pointed. 

Subsequent  History  of  the  Reform   Movement 

The  year  1832  saw  the  passing  not  only  of  the  great 
Reform  Bill,  but  of  Acts  extending  the  representation  of 
the  people  of  Scotland  and  Ireland.  Thirty-five  years 
later  the  electoral  franchise  of  England  and  Wales  was 
further  extended  by  the  Reform  Act  of  1867,  the  borough 
franchise  being  given  to  all  householders  as  well  as  to 
lodgers  occupying  lodging  of  the  annual  value  of  ^/^lo,  and 
the  county  occupation  franchise  was  reduced  from  ^^50  to 
£12.  The  county  representation  was  strengthened  at  the 
expense  of  the  boroughs.  In  the  following  years  similar 
provisions  were  passed  for  Scotland  and  Ireland. 

As  yet,  of  course,  all  voting  had  been  open.  The 
need  for  a  secret  ballot  had  been  one  of  the  main 
demands  of  the  Radicals  at  the  time  of  the  great  reform 
movement,  but  it  was  a  demand  to  which  the  King  was 
unalterable  opposed.  It  soon  became  apparent,  however, 
that  steps  must  be  taken  to  avoid  the  evils  of  bribery  and 

283 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

intimidation,  which  were  rather  encouraged  under  a  system 
whereby  a  wide  franchise  was  united  with  public  voting. 
It  was  not  until  1872  that,  after  much  agitation,  the  Ballot 
Act  was  passed ;  by  this  the  hustings  and  the  old  system 
of  open  voting  were  both  abolished. 

Not  until  many  years  later  was  any  substantial 
change  effected  either  in  the  respective  powers  of  the 
two  Houses  or  in  the  electoral  basis.  As  a  result  of  the 
Budget  struggle  of  19 10,  however,  the  gauntlet  was 
thrown  down  by  Mr  Asquith,  the  Prime  Minister  in  a 
Liberal  administration,  and  as  a  result  the  power  of  the 
House  of  Lords  was  greatly  curtailed  by  the  Parliament 
Act  of  1 9 1 1 .  To  such  an  extent,  indeed,  were  the  powers 
of  the  House  of  Lords  reduced  that  its  reform  as  a  part 
of  the  legislative  organism  became  but  a  question  of  time 
if  it  were  to  be  left  in  existence  as  an  effective  Second 
Chamber.  This  question  of  reform  was  subsequently 
inquired  into  by  the  Committee  of  Inquiry  whose  report 
was  issued  in  191 8. 

To-day,  with  the  passing  of  the  various  franchise  Acts 
of  191 8  and  1920,  political  power  is  exercised  by  the 
vast  majority  of  the  adult  members  of  the  comm.unity. 
The  battle  which  long  raged  over  women's  suffrage  has 
been  fought  and  won ;  the  question  of  adult  suffrage  for 
men  has  been  settled.  It  can  now  be  said  that,  so 
far  as  Great  Britain  is  concerned,  she  is  a  true  democracy. 
The  same  tendency  toward  a  wider  and  wider  franchise 
is  visible  in  other  countries  also. 


1 


284 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  FACTORY 

THE  decline  of  the  gilds  and  the  old  gild  system,  the 
shifting  of  the  centre  of  gravity  from  the  countryside 
to  the  town,  the  invention  of  the  steam-engine  and 
the  development  of  the  factory  system — these,  among  other 
and  less  important  causes,  made  it  apparent  in  the  early 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  the  doctrine  of  laissez- 
faire  might  result  in  evils  so  widespread,  in  a  standard 
of  life  so  reduced,  and  in  oppression  so  great  that  it 
behoved  the  State  on  behalf  of  the  community  generally 
to  regulate  or  control  in  some  degree  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  worker  toiled. 

The  factory  system  had  already  brought  in  its  wake  a 
system  of  society  lacking  in  coherence,  in  which  the  unit 
could  be  lost,  and  in  which  class  distinctions  tended  to 
become  more  and  more  clearly  marked.  The  material 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  transition  from  worker  to  master 
became  steadily  greater.  A  linking-up  of  humanity  to 
the  machine,  an  increase  in  production  tending  to  wealth 
ill  distributed,  to  cutting  prices,  and  to  unemployment, 
caused  both  physical  and  material  misery.  To  these 
were  added  the  spiritual  losses  due  to  vile  environments 
and  untutored  minds.  The  peasant  had  left  the  country- 
side to  work  in  fearful  surroundings  for  long  hours,  often 
for  low  wages,  and  was  called  upon  to  live  in  noisome 
streets,  in  damp  and  bare  cellars,  and  to  his  own  self- 
questioning  "  Why  ?  "  he  could  give  no  answer. 

At  first  the  legislature,  aristocratic  in  nature,  listened 
rather  to  the  voice  of  the  economist  than  to  the  despairing 
cry  of  labour.      It  was  fearful  of  undue  interference  lest 

285 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

it  should  cripple  industry  on  the  one  hand  and  starve  the 
operatives  on  the  other,  for  in  the  early  years  of  last 
century  it  appeared  to  be  the  view  of  not  a  few  economists 
and  of  a  great  number  of  business  men  that  life  had  nothing 
to  offer  the  '  lower  orders  ' — particularly  the  children  of 
the  working  classes — but  a  choice  between  overwork  and 
underfeeding;  they  would  seem  to  have  been  born  under 
a  star  which  doomed  them  always  to  work  too  hard  or  to 
eat  too  little. 

State  Regulation 

It  is  to  the  credit  of  England  that  in  this  matter  of 
State  regulation  of  industry  she  was  a  pioneer,  for,  as  Mr 
Sidney  Webb  has  said : 

Of  all  the  nineteenth-century  inventions  in  social  organiza- 
tion, factory  legislation  is  the  most  widely  diffused.  The 
opening  of  the  twentieth  century  finds  it  prevailing  over  a  larger 
area  than  the  public  library  or  the  savings  bank  ;  it  is,  perhaps, 
more  far-reaching,  if  not  more  ubiquitous,  than  even  the  public 
elementary  school  or  the  policeman.^ 

State  regulation  in  its  widest  form  goes  beyond  what 
is  commonly  understood  to  be  included  within  factory 
legislation.  Indeed,  if  by  State  regulation  we  mean  the 
regulation  by  the  State  of  the  circumstances  in  which  the 
worker  as  such  shall  be  protected,  it  includes  workmen's 
compensation  legislation,  laws  relating  to  national  health 
insurance,  to  unemployment,  to  conciliation  and  arbitra- 
tion, and  might  indeed  be  made  to  embrace  most  of  the 
social  legislation  of  the  past  century.  We  do  not,  however, 
use  the  expression  in  this  wide  sense,  nor  in  the  too  narrow 
sense  in  which  it  becomes  coterminous  with  factory  and 
workshop  legislation,  for  we  include  that  wide  body  of 
law  which  is  concerned  with  the  regulation  of  mines  and 
quarries — a  form  of  regulation   which  has   become  even 

^  See   his   preface   to  A  History   of  Factory  Legislation,  by  Miss  B.  L. 
Hutchins  and  Dr  Harrison. 

286 


THE    FACTORY 

more  diffused  than  factory  legislation  proper,  being  found, 
as  it  is  to-day,  in  every  district  controlled  directly  or  in- 
directly by  Europeans  ^  in  which  mining  is  carried  on, 
even  in  such  wild  and  savage  countries  as  Nyassaland, 
Uganda,  Ashanti,  and  Nigeria. 

The  chief  purposes  of  the  gild  regulations  relative  to 
hours  and  conditions  of  labour,  the  training  of  apprentices, 

^  It  may  be  of  convenience  to  the  reader  to  have  before  him  a  list,  so 
far  as  the  United  Kingdom  is  concerned,  of  the  various  Factory  and  Work- 
shop Acts  and  the  various  Acts  relating  to  mines  and  quarries. 

Factory  and  Workshop  Acts  :  42  Geo.  Ill,  c.  73  (1802)  ;  59  Geo.  Ill, 
c.  66  (1819);  60  Geo.  Ill,  c.  5  (1819);  6  Geo.  IV,  c.  63  (1825);  10 
Geo.  IV,  c.  51  (1829)  ;  10  Geo.  IV,  c.  63  (1829)  ;  I  and  2  Will.  IV,  c.  39 
(1831)  ;  3  and  4  Will.  IV,  c.  103  (1833)  ;  4  Will.  IV,  c.  i  (1834)  ;  7  Vic, 
c.  I  5  (1844)  ;  8  and  9  Vic,  c  29  (1845)  ;  9  Vic,  c  18  (1846)  ;  9  and  10 
Vic,  c  29  (1847)  ;  10  and  11  Vic,  c  70  (1847)  ;  13  and  14  Vic,  c  54 
(1850);  16  and  17  Vic,  c.  104  (1853);  19  and  20  Vic,  c  38  (1856); 
23  and  24  Vic,  c  78  (i860);  24  and  25  Vic,  c  117  (1861);  25  Vic, 
c.  8  (1862)  ;  26  and  27  Vic,  c.  38  (1863)  ;  26  and  27  Vic,  c.  40  (1863)  ; 
27  and  28  Vic,  c  48  (1864)  ;  27  and  28  Vic,  c  98  (1864)  ;  30  and  31 
Vic,  c.  103  (1867);  30  and  31  Vic,  c  146  (1867);  33  and  34  Vic, 
c  62  (1870);  34  Vic,  c  19  (1871);  34  and  35  Vic,  c  104  (1871); 

37  and  38  Vic,  c  44  (1874);  41  Vic,  c  16  (1878);  46  and  47  Vic, 
c.  53  (1883)  ;  51  and  52  Vic,  c  22  (1888)  ;  52  and  53  Vic,  c  62  (1889)  ; 
54  and  55  Vic,  c  75  (1891)  ;  55  and  56  Vic,  c  30  (1892)  ;  58  and  59 
Vic,  c  37  (1895);  60  and  61  Vic,  c  58  (1897);  i  Edv/.  VII,  c.  22 
(1901)  ;  3  Edw.  VII,  c  45  (1903)  ;  7  Edw.  VII,  c  10  (1907)  ;  7  Edvi^.  VII, 
c.  39  (1907) ;  9  Edw,  VII,  c  22  (1909)  ;  i  and  2  Geo.  V,  c  21  (191 1)  ; 
5  and  6  Geo.  V,  c  54  (191  5)  ;  8  and  9  Geo.  V,  c  32  (191 8)  ;  8  and  9 
Geo.  V,  c  61  (1918);  10  and  li  Geo.  V,  c  62  (1920);  10  and  il 
Geo.  V,  c  65  (1920). 

Coal  Mines  Regulation  Acts:  5  and  6  Vic,  c  99  (1842);  13  and  14 
Vic,  c  100  (1850);  18  and  19  Vic,  c  108  (1855);  23  and  24  Vic, 
c  151  (i860)  ;  25  and  26  Vic,  c  79  (1862)  ;  35  and  36  Vic,  c.76  (1872); 
49  and  50  Vic,  c  40  (1886)  ;  50  and  51  Vic,  c  58  (1887)  ;  57  and  58 
Vic,  c  52  (1894)  ;  59  and  60  Vic,  c  43  (1896)  ;  3  Edw.  VII,  c  7(1903)  ; 
5  Edw.  VII,  c  9  (1905)  ;  8  Edw.  VII,  c  57  (1908)  ;  i  and  2  Geo.  V, 
c.  21  (1911). 

Metalliferous  Mines  Regulation  Acts:  35  and  36  Vic,  c  77   (1872); 

38  and  39  Vic,  c  39  (1875)  ;  54  and  55  Vic,  c  47  (1891). 

There  should  also  be  noted  the  Boiler  Explosions  Acts  of  1882  and  1890, 
the  Notice  of  Accidents  Acts  of  1894  and  1906,  the  Fatal  Accidents  Inquiry 
(Scotland)  Act  of  1895,  and  the  numerous  Truck  Acts. 

287 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

and  the  observance  of  holidays,  etc.,  were,  as  we  have  seen, 
to  prevent  unfair  competition  and  degradation  of  crafts- 
manship; the  purpose  of  the  State  legislation,  commencing 
with  Henry  VI  and  culminating  in  the  Elizabethan  labour 
laws,  was  to  discourage  laziness,  promote  a  general  diffusion 
of  available  labour,  compel  the  doing  of  a  given  amount 
of  work  for  a  limited  wage,  and  devise  means  of  dealing 
with  the  problem  of  the  poor  and  the  destitute.  Generally 
speaking,  the  policy  both  of  the  gilds  and  of  the  Tudors 
followed  the  line  of  fixing  maximum  wages  and  minimum 
hours.  The  policy  of  the  factory  legislation,  commencing 
with  a  special  kind  of  labour  in  a  limited  class  of  factory, 
was  to  protect  the  worker  by  fixing  maximum  hours  and, 
in  time,  and  by  means  of  a  distinct  group  of  Acts,  minimum 
wages.  State  regulation,  however,  developed  far  beyond 
these  limits,  so  that  to-day,  in  our  factories,  workshops, 
bakeries,  and  mines,  there  have  been  created  rules  whereby 
it  is  difficult  for  even  the  most  reactionary  employer  to 
degrade  the  standard  of  life  of  his  employees.  The  last 
citadel  of  the  reactionary  will  fall  when  all  the  so-called 
sweated  industries  have  been  brought  within  the  Trade 
Board  Acts. 

It  should  be  observed  that  the  conditions  of  work  in  the 
sweated  industries  approximate  much  more  closely  to  the 
conditions  obtaining  in  the  old  craft  shops  of  the  gild 
period  than  to  those  existing  in  the  modern  factory.  In 
the  chain-making,  cheap  furniture,  and  seamstress  trades 
we  often  find  to-day  the  few  workers  employed  by  a  working 
master,  all  handicraft  workers,  following  their  employ- 
ment in  a  small  room  or  cellar,  possibly  attached  to  some 
shop.  The  fact  that  we  to-day  speak  of  such  employments 
as  the  sweated  industries  should  warn  us  against  too 
readily  regarding  the  invention  of  the  machine,  the  rise 
of  the  factory,  and  the  building  of  the  dividing  line  between 
master  and  man  as  being  the  causes  of  labour  unrest  or 
as  conducing  to  a  degradation  of  labour.  We  should 
not  too  readily  look  back  upon  the  gild  period  as  to  a 
Golden  Age. 
288 


THE    FACTORY 

Child  Labour 

But  though  the  general  tendency  has  throughout  historic 
^times  been  upward,  this  tendency  has  from  time  to  time 
been  subject  to  sharp  checks.  There  can  be  Httle  doubt 
that,  despite  the  fact  that  the  eighteenth  century  was 
largely  an  English  century,  when  England  was  prosperous 
and  was  speedily  obtaining  control  of  that  great  Empire 
which  to-day  is  hers,  the  condition  of  a  considerable  part 
of  the  working  classes,  and  particularly  of  the  women^  and 
children  of  those  classes,  tended  to  become  progressively 
worse  as  the  century  grew  older.  Some  of  the  causes 
of  this  decline  in  the  standard  of  living  we  have  already 
examined.  Of  these  causes  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
one,  the  apprenticing  of  pauper  children,  did  much  to  de- 
grade the  lot  of  the  working  classes  generally  by  setting  up 
a  vicious  kind  of  labour  competition  and  a  low  standard 
of  employing  moraUty.  Already,  by  1778,  Adam  Smith 
could  contrast  the  lot  of  the  craftsman  and  the  labourer  in 
husbandry  in  a  manner  which  showed  that  the  superior 
condition  of  the  craftsman  no  longer  existed.  Eleven 
years  before  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons 
had  thrown  light  on  the  terrible  conditions  prevailmg 
among  the  parish  apprentices.  The  work  of  Dr  Percival 
in  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  his 
inquiries  into  the  cause  and  spread  of  those  infectious 
disorders  which  so  frequently  arose  in  the  manufacturing 
districts  brought  home  to  the  educated  public  the  need 
in  its  own  interest  of  such  State  control  as  was  necessary 
to  prevent  the  exploitation  and  ruination  of  infant  life. 
Philanthropists,  learned  societies,  political  thinkers,  and 
lawyers  began  to  turn  their  attention  to  the  child  worker, 
while  still  maintaining  the  theory  of  freedom  of  contract 
and  the  policy  of  laissez-faire  in  all  their  completeness  so 
far  as  the  adult  worker  was  concerned.^ 

1  We  so  entirely  agree  with  the  views  of  Miss  Hutchins  and  Dr  Harrison 
expressed  at  p.  13  of  their  most  valuable  History  of  Factory  Legislation 
that  we  quote :  "  The  evils  and  horrors  of  the  Industrial  Revolution  are 

T  289 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

The  First  Factory  Act 

The  views  of  the  humanitarians  of  those  days  first 
found  legislative  expression  in  the  "  Act  for  the  Preserva- 
tion of  the  Health  and  Morals  of  Apprentices  and  others  . 
employed  in  Cotton  and  other  Mills  and  Cotton  and  other 
Factories,"  which  was  passed  without  serious  opposition 
in  1802. 

This  Act  applied  only  to  cotton  and  woollen  mills  and 
factories  employing  twenty  or  more  persons,  and  as  re- 
gards the  clauses  relating  to  hours,  clothes,  lodging,  and 
education,  it  applied  only  to  the  apprentices  employed  in 
such  mills  and  factories.  The  sections  of  the  Act  may 
therefore  be  conveniently  divided  into  two  parts;  (i)  those 
relating  to  cotton  and  woollen  factories  and  mills ;  (2) 
those  relating  to  apprentices  employed  therein. 

As  to  (i),  the  Act  required  that  every  room  and  apart- 
ment belonging  to  such  factories  and  mills  should  be 
properly  ventilated  and  should  be  limewashed  at  least 
twice  a  year.  The  justices  of  the  peace  at  their  mid- 
summer sessions  were  empowered  to  appoint  two  visitors 
to  visit  such  factories  and  mills  to  see  that  the  Act  was 
being  properly  carried  out  and  to  see  that  the  sections 
relating  to  apprentices  were  being  obeyed.  The  visitors 
were  empowered,  should  they  find  infectious  diseases 
prevailing,  to  require  the  employer  to  call  in  medical 
assistance.  Copies  of  the  Act  had  to  be  exhibited  in  a  con- 
spicuous place  in  every  one  of  such  factories  and  mills,  and 
penalties  were  incurred  by  every  employer  who  obstructed 
the  visitors  or  failed  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  the  Act. 

often  vaguely  ascribed  to  the  '  transition  stage '  brought  about  by  the 
development  of  machinery  and  the  consequent  '  upheaval.'  But  the  more 
vs^e  look  into  the  matter,  the  more  convinced  we  become  that  the  factory 
system  and  machinery  merely  took  what  they  found,  and  that  the  lines  on 
which  the  Industrial  Revolution  actually  worked  itself  out  cannot  be  explained 
by  the  progress  of  material  civilisation  alone ;  rather,  the  disregard  of  child 
life,  the  greed  of  child  labour,  and  the  maladministration  of  the  Poor  Law 
had,  during  the  eighteenth  century,  and  probably  much  further  back  still, 
been  preparing  the  human  material  that  was  to  be  so  mercilessly  exploited." 

290 


THE    FACTORY 

As  to  (2),  the  master  was  required  to  supply  his  appren- 
tices with  two  complete  suits  of  clothing,  with  suitable 
linen,  stockings,  hats,  and  shoes,  one  complete  new  suit 
being  delivered  to  each  apprentice  once  at  least  in  every 
year  The  apprentice  was  not  to  be  employed  or  com- 
pelled to  work  for  more  than  twelve  hours  a  day  (reckoning 
from  6  A.M.  to  9  p.m.),  exclusive  of  meal  times,  and  after 
certain  dates  no  apprentice  was  to  be  employed  at  night 
{i.e.,  between  9  p.m.  and  6  a.m.).  Every  apprentice  was 
to  be  taught  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic 

in  some  part  of  every  working  day,  for  the  first  four  years  at 
least  of  his  or  her  apprenticeship  ...  by  some  discreet  and 
proper  person,  to  be  provided  and  paid  by  the  master  or  mistress 
of  such  apprentice,  in  some  room  or  place  in  such  mill  or  factory 
to  be  set  aside  for  the  purpose. 

On  Sundays  the  apprentices  were  to  be  given  religious 
instruction  for  one  hour  at  least.  On  weekdays  their  in- 
struction had  to  be  given  in  their  working  hours.  Male 
and  female  apprentices  were  to  be  provided  with  separate 
bedrooms,  and  not  more  than  two  apprentices  might  sleep 

in  the  same  bed.  ta    t^      •     1  r      .u 

If  the  resolutions  put  forward  by  Dr  Percival  tor  the 
consideration  of  the  Manchester  Board  of  Health  in  1796 
be  examined,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Act  struck  at  most 
of  the  evils  therein  described.  It  sought  to  increase 
health  and  advance  the  education  of  apprentices  by  im- 
proving ventilation,  preventing  overcrowding,  night  work, 
and  excessive  day  work,  and  offering  some  opportunities  for 
secular  and  religious  education.  It  fell  short,  however,  of 
Dr  Percival's  proposals  in  that  it  was  of  very  limited 
application,  affecting  as  it  did  a  limited  class  of  factory 
and  a  limited  class  of  labour.  The  poor  labouring  child 
who  was  not  apprenticed  could  still  be  employed  at  night 
or  for  sixteen  or  seventeen  hours  a  day,  and  could  be  left 
in  complete  ignorance.  The  adult  was  still,  to  use  an 
older  phrase,  at  mercy.  These  grave  defects  in  the  Act 
were  soon  to  become  evident. 

291 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Wrongs  and  the  Public  Conscience 

During  the  next  few  years  certain  tendencies  became  i 
apparent,  some  due  to  the  Act,  others  due  to  distinct  causes. 
C3n  the  one  hand,  many  employers  showed  a  preference  for 
children  who  were  not  apprentices  so  that  they  would  be 
free  of  the  restrictive  sections  in  the  Act  dealing  with 
apprentices,  while  at  the  same  time  some  of  the  more 
enlightened  justices  showed  a  desire  for  an  extension  of 
the  restrictive  clauses  to  such  *  free  '  children.  On  the 
other  hand,  whereas  at  the  time  of  the  passing  of  the  Act 
the  power  employed  for  the  working  of  the  machines  was 
almost  exclusively  water-power,  with  the  result  that  the 
mills  and  factories  were  in  remote  valleys,  and  the  demand 
for  pauper  apprentices,  who  could  be  sent  anywhere,  was 
consequently  high,  by  1810  Watt's  steam  engine,  intro- 
duced some  nineteen  years  before,  was  becoming  widely 
used,  factories  were  beginning  to  spring  up  in  the  more 
populous  districts,  and  local  labour  was  being  drawn  upon. 
A  result  of  the  change  was  that  the  pauper  apprentice 
was  now  available  for  that  other  form  of  exploitation — 
apprenticeship  to  the  butty  in  the  coal-mines  of  which 
we  shall  hereafter  have  to  speak. 

Despite  the  fact,  however,  that  this  period  was  one  of 
industrial  oppression,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
public  conscience  was  slowly  awakening.  Mr  Justice 
Grose  can  be  found  in  1801  using  words  singularly  similar 
to  those  employed  by  an  advanced  labour  leader  in  191 9, 
when  laying  down  the  principle  that  if  a  trade  cannot  be 
carried  on  economically  without  overdriving  and  under- 
paying those  employed  therein,  it  had  better  not  be  carried 
on  at  all.  They  differed  only  in  their  views  as  to  what 
amounts   to  overdriving   and  underpaying.^     Mr   Justice 

^  The  miners'  leader  we  refer  to  is  Mr  Vernon  Hartshorn.  Compare 
also  the  dicta  of  Mr  Justice  Gordon  in  Adelaide  and  Mr  Justice  Burnside 
in  Western  Australia  :  "  If  any  particular  industry  cannot  keep  going  and 
pay  its  workpeople  at  least  'js.  a  day,  it  must  shut  up."  "  If  the  industry 
cannot  pay  the  price,  it  had  better  stop,  and  let  some  other  industry  absorb 
the  workers."     These  dicta  belong  to  the  twentieth  century. 

292 


THE    FACTORY 

Grose  was  considering  the  case  of  a  girl  of  fifteen  who  had 
been  worked  for  such  hours  and  supplied  with  such  poor 
food  that  she  had  become  deformed  and  disabled  for  life ; 
the  twentieth-century  labour  leader  was  considering  the 
case  of  an  adult  male  working  eight  hours  a  day  and  earning 
/t  a  week.  The  principle  was  the  same ;  the  application 
different. 

The  Industrial  Reformers 

The  cause  of  reform  received  an  immense  impetus  with 
the  arrival  of  the  first  of  the  three  great  successive  prot- 
agonists in  the  battle  for  fair  conditions  for  labour — 
Robert  Owen,  Lord  Ashley,^  and  John  Fielden.  To 
these  three  men  and  to  the  pubUcists  Richard  Oastler  and 
M.  T.  Sadler  more  than  to  any  other  man  or  group  of 
men  must  be  assigned  the  credit  for  the  improvement  which 
was  effected  in  the  working  conditions  of  the  masses  during 
the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Robert  Owen,  himself  an  employer  of  labour,  was  per- 
suaded that  there  was  an  optimum  working  day— that  is 
to  say,  that  output  did  not  progressively  increase  with 
increase  in  hours.  He  experimented  and  found  that 
practice  supported  theory.  Alike,  therefore,  as  a  humani- 
tarian and  a  practical  man  of  business,  he  was  firm  in  the 
view  that  the  extraordinarily  long  hours  then  being  worked 
by  children  and  adults  were  good  for  neither  the  employer 
nor  the  employee. 

As  a  result  of  his  enthusiasm  and  energy  many,  though 
by  no  means  all,  of  the  obstacles  always  found  in  the  path 
of  the  reformer  were  overcome,  and  in  1819  the  second 
of  the  Factory  Acts  was  passed,  though  in  a  form  very 
different  from  that  which  Owen  had  drafted. 

The  Act  of   18 19 

This  Act,  "  to  make  further  Provisions  for  the  Regula- 
tion   of    Cotton     Mills,    Factories,    and    for    the    better 
Preservation  of  the  Health  of  young  Persons  employed 
1  Afterward  Earl  of  Shaftesbury. 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

therein,"  limited  the  age  at  which  children  might  be  em- 
ployed in  cotton  mills  to  nine,  and  no  child  under  sixteen 
years  of  age  might  be  required  to  work  for  more  than 
twelve  hours  a  day,  exclusive  of  meal-times,  such  twelve 
hours  to  be  between  5  a.m.  and  9  p.m.  The  section  for- 
bidding night  work  in  such  cases  was  amended  by  an  Act 
passed  in  the  next  session,  which  permitted  the  employment 
at  night  of  young  persons  who  had  been  thrown  out  of 
work  in  consequence  of  the  mill  in  which  they  worked 
being  destroyed  by  accident  or  fire — a  provision  which 
gave  expression  to  the  view,  so  strongly  opposed  at  all  times 
to  that  of  the  early  reformers,  that  limitations  on  the  hours 
of  work  were  really  inhumane  as  they  tended  to  unemploy- 
ment and  starvation. 

The  fixing  of  a  minimum  age  below  which  children 
could  not  be  employed  was  a  distinct  advance.  It  appHed, 
it  is  true,  only  to  the  textile  industries,  but  it  established 
a  principle  of  far-reaching  importance.  More  than  twenty 
years  were  to  pass  before  the  child  of  four  and  five  years 
of  age  was  to  be  excluded  by  Act  of  Parliament  from  work 
in  the  mines,  but  throughout  the  intervening  period  the 
current  was  set  steadily  in  favour  of  the  elimination  of 
infant  labour  and  of  the  fixing  of  a  maximum  number  of 
hours  during  which  a  child  could  be  employed. 

The  Ten-hour  Agitation 

We  do  not  propose  to  consider  the  Acts  of  1825,  1829 
(two),  or  1 83 1,  for  they  include  no  new  provisions  of  any 
importance,  being  in  the  nature  of  amending  Acts.  It  is 
necessary  to  advert,  however,  to  the  Act  of  1833,  for  this 
piece  of  legislation  marks  a  stage  in  the  great  battle  for 
a  ten-hour  day  which  convulsed  industrial  England  for 
twenty  years. 

As  far  back  as  1784  the  justices  at  the  Manchester 
Quarter  Sessions  had  proposed  a  ten-hour  day.  They 
were,  however,  far  in  advance  of  their  time,  and  although 
signs  were  not  wanting  in  the  opening  years  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  to  show  that  the  more  progressive  reformers 
294 


I  THE    FACTORY 

'were  in  favour  of  a  reduction,  it  was  not  until  1 8 1 8  that 
the  operatives  began  actively  to  press  for  a  ten  and  a  half 
and  later,  in  1830,  for  a  ten-hour  day.         ^     _ 

In  an  outline  such  as  the  present  it  is  impossible  to 
consider,  save  in  the  briefest  manner,  the  stages  in  this 
memorable  struggle.  We  cannot  stay  to  describe  the 
local  committees  which  everywhere  sprang  up,  the  invective 
of  Oastler,  the  agitation  conducted  in  Parliament  and 
outside  by  Lord  Ashley,  John  Fielden,  and  Michael  Sadler. 
Time  after  time  the  reformers  returned  to  the  charge, 
time  after  time  they  were  repulsed.  The  local  organiza- 
tions, despairing  of  success,  sometimes  almost  melted  away, 
sometimes  threatened  violence.  But  always  the  organiza- 
tion was  revived  and  led  on  once  more  by  the  tenacity, 
abihty,  and  self-sacrificing  enthusiasm  of  those  great  men 
who  consecrated  their  lives  to  this  reform. 

Conditions  of  Work 

As  the  authors  of  A  History  of  Factory  Legislation  say : 

While  political  economists  were  propounding  their  theories  of 
the  advantages  of  lahse-z.-ja'ire  and  freedom  of  contract  between 
employers  and  employed,  the  men  who  were  brought  face  to  face 
with  industrial  conditions  recognised  that  there  was  no  such  thmg 
as  freedom  of  contract. 

Even  such  an  investigator  as  Dr  Kay,  who  was  himself 
opposed  to  any  State  interference  with  the  hours  of  labour, 
thus  describes  the  condition  of  the  operative : 

Whilst  the  engine  runs  the  people  must  work — men,  women, 
and  children  are  yoked  together  with  iron  and  steam.  The 
animal  machine— breakable  in  the  best  case,  subject  to  a  thousand 
sources  of  suffering— is  chained  fast  to  the  iron  machine,  which 
feels  no  suffering  and  no  weariness. 

It  was  just  this  fact  which  so  sharply  distinguished  the 
condition  of  the  worker  in  the  factory  from  the  condition 
of  the  ancient  handicraftsman.  As  we  have  seen,  the 
gilds  fixed  a  day  as  from  dawn  to  sunset,  and  no  evidence 
exists  to  show  that  such  hours  were  regarded  as  oppressive 
or  injurious  to  health  or  happiness.     But  the  hand-worker 

295 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

could  within  wide  limits  set  his  own  pace.  The  machine- 
tender  had  the  pace  set  for  him,  and  a  day's  work  which 
under  the  old  system  had  been  tolerable  became  intolerable. 
No  longer  did  the  master  work  side  by  side  with  the  man, 
encouraging  him  by  his  example.  The  limited  liability 
company,  separating  yet  more  widely  the  employer  from 
the  employed,  was  beginning  to  be  thought  of.  Life  for  the 
worker  was  becoming  a  drab  monotony  of  toil  ;  craftsman- 
ship in  which  a  man  could  delight  was  being  replaced  by 
machine-minding,  which  could  appeal  to  no  professional 
instinct  and  which  at  best  could  be  looked  upon  only  as  an 
occupation  necessary  for  the  earning  of  a  livelihood.  The 
worker  began  to  feel  that  life,  in  so  far  as  it  was  made  up 
of  distasteful  work  and  sleep,  had  little  to  offer  that  was 
worth  the  acceptance;  a  widespread  feeling  of  grievance 
existed  and  the  way  out  was  searched  for.  That  way  out 
was  found,  as  we  see  the  matter,  in  the  workman  claiming 
the  right  to  some  leisure.  It  was  in  time  grudgingly  con- 
ceded. The  battle  then  centred  round  the  question  as 
to  the  amount  of  leisure,  and  that  battle  still  continues. 

The  ten-hour  agitation  had  been  in  existence  for 
some  time  before  Michael  Sadler  found  it  possible 
in  1 83 1  to  introduce  a  Bill  into  Parliament  which  was 
primarily  designed  to  protect  the  adult  and,  indeed,  the 
male  adult  operatives,  though  much  stress  was  placed  by 
its  champions  upon  the  iniquity  of  employing  children 
for  an  excessive  number  of  hours.  When,  however,  this 
charge  was  met  by  the  Act  of  1833  (for  Sadler's  Bill 
never  became  an  Act,  though  its  introduction  was  the 
cause  of  the  setting  up  of  a  Select  Committee  of  the  House, 
a  Committee  which  collected  most  valuable  evidence 
which  proved  the  foundation  upon  which  the  later  legis- 
lation was  based),  which  prohibited  the  employment  of 
persons  under  thirteen  years  of  age  ^  in  any  of  the  various 

^  Sec.  8  of  the  Act  of  1833  made  the  age  limit  vary  on  a  sliding  scale 
according  to  date.  Six  months  after  the  passing  of  the  Act  it  was  eleven, 
eighteen  months  after  the  passing  of  the  Act  it  was  twelve,  thirty  months 
after  the  passing  of  the  Act  it  was  thirteen. 

296 


THE    FACTORY 

mills  or  factories  indicated  in  the  Act  for  more  than  eight 
hours  a  day,  the  adult  workers  who  had  been  most  actively 
in  favour  of  a  general  ten-hour  day  were  positively  opposed 
to  the  Act,  believing  that  it  meant  the  continuance  of  an 
adult  day  of  unlimited  length. 

Subsequent  events  show,  however,  that  their  fears  were 
unjustified.  The  fixing  of  a  maximum  eight-hour  day 
for  children,  of  a  twelve-hour  day  for  persons  under 
eighteen,  the  abolition  of  night  work  in  the  case  of  young 
persons,  the  appointment  of  inspectors  to  see  that  these 
and  the  other  factory  provisions  were  duly  carried  out, 
had  many  and  widespread  results. 

In  the  first  place,  the  restrictions  imposed  upon  the  use^ 
of  child  labour  caused  the  employers  to  search  for  other 
forms  of  cheap  labour,  and  they  usually  found  a  substitute 
in  women's  labour,  which  steadily  became  more  and  more 
common  in  the  mills  and  factories  to  which  the  Factory 
;  Acts  applied.     In  the  second  place,  a  greater  knowledge  /^ 
I  of  factory  conditions,  obtained  by  the  Government  through 
i  the  inspectors,  enabled  more  accurate  data  to  be  accumu- 
;  lated  as  to  the  evils  of  the  system,  their  symptoms,  and 
icure.      In   the   third   place,    with   a   very   cheap    form   of  -^^ 
i  labour  cut  off  to  a  certain  extent,  a  greater  burden  was 
placed  upon  management  to  organize  their  works  in  such 
a   manner   that   the    cost   of   production    should    not    be 
adversely   afi:ected    by   the    higher   wage    bill.     In    other 
words,   inventiveness,    organizing    ability,    and    adminis- 
trative exeiuinceliad  to  make~uprf<3i-what  was  lost  on  the 

wage  bill. 

It  was  this  last  fact  that  was  insufficiently  taken  into 
account  by  the  numerous  economists  and  business  men  who 
saw  at  first  in  the  limitation  of  the  hours  of  child  labour, 
and  later  in  the  limitation  of  the  hours  of  adult  labour, 
national,  local,  or  individual  ruin.  No  more  important 
principle  can  be  grasped  by  anyone  interested  in  the 
relationship  between  employer  and  employed  than  that 
which  may  be  expressed  as  follows  : 

Industry   to-day,   and   under  what   may  be   called  the 

297 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

modern  factory  system,  is  composed  of  two  main  parts: 
(i)  management;  (2)  labour.  The  success  of  an  under- 
taking, or  of  a  group  of  undertakings,  depends  upon  the 
cost  of  production  of  the  articles  produced  and  upon  the 
quality.  The  lower  the  cost  of  production  and  the  higher 
the  quality  the  more  successful  the  concern.  But  to 
obtain  low  productive  cost  and  high  quality  in  compe- 
tition with  other  equally  good  workers,  it  is  necessary  for 
the  two  parts,  management  and  labour,  to  work  hand  in 
hand.  If  the  men  employed  on  the  labour  side  decline 
in  efficiency,  the  men  employed  on  the  management  side 
must  make  up  the  leeway  by  greater  inventiveness,  greater 
organizing  ability,  greater  efficiency  all  round.  If  they 
succeed  in  doing  this,  then  the  net  result  and  the  net 
degree  of  prosperity  of  the  undertaking  or  group  of  under- 
I  takings  remain  constant.  Shortly  put,  as  the  worker 
Ibecomes  less  efficient  management  must  become  more 
\efficient.  Clearly  a  point  is  reached  when  management 
cannot  make  up  the  leeway.  When  that  point  is  reached 
the  decline  in  the  efficiency  of  the  worker  must  stop  or 
the  standard  of  life  will  be  of  necessity  degraded. 

Factories  and  Mines 

At  the  time  of  the  Factory  Act  of  1833,  as  at  the  time 
of  the  passing  of  Lord  Ashley's  Act,  1842,  the  factories 
and  the  mines  were,  in  the  generality  of  cases,  not  managed 
at  all  as  we  to-day  understand  the  term.  An  occasional 
bright  exception  existed,  but  in  the  general  case  the 
concerns  were  small,  ill-equipped,  indifferently  organized 
outgrowths  from  the  old  system  under  which  man  and 
master  worked  together  in  a  small  way  of  business.  To 
obtain  a  satisfactory  economic  result  under  such  an 
inefficient  system  of  management  the  persons  employed 
on  the  labour  side  had  to  be  intensely  '  efficient  * — that 
is  to  say,  had  to  produce  at  very  low  cost.  This 
meant  long  hours  at  low  pay.  Industry  lived  on  the 
workers  and  managem^ent  could  blunder  along  in  any 
manner. 
298 


THE    FACTORY 

When,  however,  in  the  interests  of  the  community,  and 
in  especial  in  the  interests  of  the  women  and  children 
whose  lives  were  being  rendered  intolerable,  ^  the  legis- 
ilature  found  it  necessary  to  set  a  maximum  limit  to  hours 
and  a  minimum  limit  to  wages,  management  awoke, 
rubbed  its  eyes,  and  got  to  work.  As  a  result,  though 
wages  have  mounted  higher  and  higher,  though  conditions 
of  life  have  enormously  improved,  though  a  degree  of 
leisure  had  already  been  won  before  the  War,  England, 
and  not  only  England,  but  Europe  and  America  generally, 
were  in  19 14  more  prosperous  than  ever  before.  It  is 
necessary,  however,  to  note  that  there  is  a  limit  beyond 
which  managerial  efficiency  cannot  be  expected  to  go, 
and  although  this  limit  may  not  yet  have  been  reached  it 
is  not  far  distant. 

Cheap  Labour 

Less  than  a  hundred  years  ago  it  was  quite  clearly  the 
opinion  of  many  eminent  and  humane  men  that  the  over- 
working   of   children,    of   women,    and    of   men    was    a 
regrettable  neceji^ty.     Macaulay  expressed  the  view  that 
"  the  overworking  of  children  is  not  the  cause  but.^the- 
effecT  of    distress."     Poulett    Thompson     regarded,    on 
economic  grounds,  the  Short  Time  Bill  as  an  "evil."    The 
economists   generally   regarded    as    fatal   any   attempt   to 
interfere  with  the  freedom  of  man  to  make  such  agreements  — 
with  man  as  he   was  able.     The   working   of  the    1833  \ 
Act  proved  the  contrary.     It  did  not  destroy  trade,  it  did  \ 
not  result  in  starving  children;    the  little  children  whose 
freedom  of  contract  had    been    interfered    with  grew  up  ^ 
better  educated,  better  in  physique,  more  efficient,  less  of  «^ 
an  encumbrance  upon  the  community. 

But,  as  we  have  seen,  the  employers,  still  not  awake  to  the 
need  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  management,  cast  around  I 
for  other  cheap  labour  and  alighted  upon  that  of  women. 
The  use  of  woman  labour  had  indeed  been  encouraged  for 
some  years  by  the  fact  that  in  the  textile  industries  labour 
had   been   to   a   large   extent   family   labour.     The   same 

299 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

applied  to  a  more  limited  extent  to  work  in  the  mines, 
at  least  as  regards  certain  districts.  As  a  result  of  these 
two  factors  each  pulling  the  same  way,  it  became  necessary 
to  consider  the  protection  of  woman  labour.  It  was  early 
apparent  to  the  Government,  as  a  result  of  the  inspectors* 
reports,  that  women  were  often  being  overworked.  A 
^  working  day  of  from  5  a.m.  to  8.30  p.m.  was  not 
uncommon,  and  this,  be  it  observed,  in  an  evil,  dust-laden 
atmosphere  at  machine-minding.  The  most  terrible 
disclosures  were,  however,  made  before  the  committees 
or  commissions  which  sat  from  time  to  time  in  the 
thirties  and  forties  of  last  century  to  inquire  into  the 
conditions  of  the  coal  industry. 

.    Ashley's  Act 

Lord  Ashley's  Bill,  which   became  law  in   1842,  was, 
as  we  have  pointed  out  in  The  British  Coal  Industry^ 

the  outcome  of  the  report  of  the  Commissioners  for  Inquiring 
into  the  Condition  of  Children  Employed  in  Mines,  a  report 
based  on  a  lengthy  and  close  inquiry  into  the  condition  of  mine 
labour,  and  one  which  expresses  in  a  clear  and  graphic  manner 
the  appalling  conditions  existing  in  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign 
of  Queen  Victoria. 

The  hours  of  labour  for  all  classes  employed  in  the 
mines  were  long,  but  those  worked  by  women  and  children 
were  excessive.  In  the  Oldham  district  adult  male  coal- 
getters  worked  nine,  ten,  and  eleven  hours  a  day,  but  the 
children  laboured  for  two  hours  more,  sometimes  for  as 
many  as  fourteen  or  fifteen  hours  a  day.  In  Derbyshire 
thirteen  to  sixteen  hours  were  reckoned  a  day's  work, 
eight  hours  being  half  a  day's  work.  Children  were 
found  working  in  mines  at  four  and  five  years  of  age. 
Numbers  were  under  seven ;  the  majority  commenced  work 
between  the  age  of  eight  and  nine.  They  received  a  very 
small  wage — generally  something  between  five  shillings  a 
week  and  five  shillings  a  month. 
/      The  conditions  of  the  work  were  bad.     As  one  of  the 

300 


THE    FACTORY 

ivitnesses   expressed  it,   the  work  was   "  worse  than   the 

slavery  of  the  West  Indies."     The  men  frequently  worked 

naked,  and  had  as  companions  in  toil  women  and  girls 

wrho  wore  nothing  but  their  shift  or  perhaps  a  pair  of 

ragged  trousers.     The  women  were  employed  in  dragging 

ihe    colliery    *  tubs  '    containing    coal    along    the    haulage 

roads   underground.     Often,   indeed   usually,   the   '  roof ' 

of  these  roads  was  so  low  that  the  women  had  to  crawl 

on  all  fours ;    sometimes  children  instead  of  women  were 

thus   employed.     The   labour   was   excessively   hard,    the 

*  tubs  *  frequently  not  even   being  provided  with  wheels, 

jbut  with  skids,  running  not  upon  rails,  but  over  slush  and 

imud.     Some  of  these  children  were  found  by  those  who 

I  went    to    investigate    working    ankle-deep    in    water    or 

i  crawling  through  pools. 

No  provision  was  made  for  education,  and  most  of  those 
engaged  in  the  industry  were  deplorably  illiterate.  Where 
a  desire  existed  on  the  part  of  a  parent  to  have  a  child 
taught  the  rudiments  of  knowledge,  it  could  only  be 
gratified  at  the  expense  of  the  child's  sleep,  for  as  a  rule 
the  children  rose  at  3  a.m.,  went  down  the  pit  at  4  a.m., 
and  did  not  return  home  until  4.30  or  5,  or  even  6  p.m. 
Thus  any  attendance  at  the  night  school  could  only  be  at 
the  expense  of  the  small  allowance  of  sleep  permitted. 
Of  play,  for  the  majority  of  these  unfortunates,  there  was 
none. 

But  if  the  lot  of  the  children  driven  into  the  mines, 
sometimes  by  the  laziness  and  selfishness,  more  frequently 
because  of  the  poverty  and  want  of  their  parents,  was  bad, 
that  of  those  orphans  who  had  been  left  to  the  tender 
mercy  of  the  Poor  Law  Guardians  was  even  worse.  They 
were  apprenticed.  . 

Apprentices  and  the  Butty  System 

The  apprenticeship  evils  were  widespread  and  are  well 
described  by  Charles  Dickens  in  Oliver  Twist.  Many 
of  the  most  noisome  trades  were  largely  carried  on  by 
recruits  obtained  via  apprenticeship  from  the  workhouses 

301 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

of  the  country.     In  the  words  of  the   Midland   Mining 
Commissioner : 

These  apprentices  are  paupers  or  orphans,  and  are  wholly  in 
the  power  of  the  butties  ^ ;  such  is  the  demand  for  this  class 
of  children  by  the  butties  that  there  are  scarcely  any  boys  in  the 
union  workhouses  of  Walsall,  Wolverhampton,  Dudley,  and 
Stourbridge  ;  these  boys  are  sent  on  trial  to  the  butties  between 
the  ages  of  eight  and  nine,  and  at  nine  are  bound  as  apprentices 
for  twelve  years,  that  is,  to  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  complete  ; 
notwithstanding  this  long  apprenticeship,  there  is  nothing  what- 
ever in  the  coal-mines  to  learn  beyond  a  little  dexterity,  readily 
acquired  by  short  practice;  the  orphan  whom  necessity  has  driven 
into  a  workhouse  is  made  to  labour  in  the  mines  until  the  age  of 
twenty-one,  solely  for  the  benefit  of  another. 

These  poor  apprentices  were  frequently  treated  with  the 
greatest  cruelty,  compelled  to  work  in  the  most  dangerous 
places,  supplied  with  the  commonest  and  worst  of  food 
and  clothing,  and  paid  no  wages  at  all.  The  life  of  the 
butty's  boy,  toiling,  to  use  Lord  Bolingbroke's  expres- 
sion, "  confined  in  the  close  vapours  of  these  malignant 
minerals,"  poor,  oppressed,  degraded,  unlettered,  heathen, 
contrasted  ill  with  that  of  the  plantation  indentured 
servants,  the  criminals  of  Botany  Bay,  or  the  Negro 
slaves  of  Virginia. 

Under  Lord  Ashley's  Act,  as  finally  passed  in  1842,  it 
was  made  illegal  to  employ,  as  from  a  date  stated,  any 
women  or  female  children  in  mines  underground.  The 
apprenticeship  of  girls  for  work  in  the  mines  was  for- 
bidden, and  the  age  limit  for  boy  apprentices  was  fixed  at 
ten  years,  the  length  of  the  apprenticeship  being  limited 
to  eight  years.  Truck  was  rendered  more  difficult,  and 
by  the  very  limited  recognition  of  the  principle  of  inspec- 
tion (though  at  first  only  social  inspection)  the  way  was 
opened  for  those  Mines  Inspection  and  Regulation  Acts 

^  Working  contractors  or  gangers  who  contracted  with  the  mine-owner 
to  raise  coal  at  so  much  a  ton  and  were  responsible  for  employing  and 
paying  the  persons  employed  by  them  to  get  the  coal. 

302 


THE    FACTORY 

which  did  so  much  to  raise  the  mining  industry  to  its 
.present  high  level  of  technical  achievement. 

Regulation  of  the  Mining  Industry 

Of  the  various  Acts  (1850,  1855,  i860,  1872,  1887,  and 
191 1,  etc.)  by  which  the  coal-mining  industry  has  been 
regulated  we  do  not  propose  to  speak,  nor  shall  we  advert 
to  the  various  Metalliferous  Mines  and  Quarries  Regulation 
Acts.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  at  present  the  safety  of  the 
miner  has  been  the  subject  of  constant  thought  and  of 
vast  numbers  of  detailed  regulations ;  that  the  principle  of 
the  exclusion  of  women  from  work  underground  has  been 
consistently  maintained  and  proved  to  be  sound ;  that  the 
age  limit  for  children  has  been  raised  and  the  hours  of 
labour  fixed;  and  that  in  addition  to  the  limitation  of 
hours  for  children  the  principle  of  a  legal  day,  viz.,  at  first 
eight  and  now  seven  hours,  has  been  recognized  in  the  case 
of  mine  workers  generally  •■■  in  the  coal-mines.  By  the 
Minimum  Wage  Act  of  191 2  the  principle  of  a  minimum 
wage  has  been  recognized  in  the  case  of  underground 
workers,  and  in  recent  years  the  mining  industry  has  led 
the  way  in  industrial  legislation. 

The  disclosures  made  before  the  committee  which  sat 
to  inquire  into  the  employment  of  women  and  children  in 
mines  sensibly  affected  British  industrial  policy  all  over 
the  world,  for  not  only  in  the  United  Kingdom  is 
the  employment  of  women  underground  forbidden,  but 
throughout  the  overseas  dominions  and  possessions  the 
same  attitude  has  been  adopted,  even  where  there  is  a 
native  working  population,  as  in  the  case  of  Nigeria. 

Nor  did  it  affect  British  policy  alone.  All  over  the 
world  legislation  has  sprung  into  being  designed  to  pro- 
tect woman  and  child  labour  employed  in  the  mining 
industry. 

^  That  special  class,  the  firemen,  examiners,  and  deputies  (synonymous 
terms),  have  of  necessity  to  work  rather  longer  hours  than  the  rest.  It 
should  also  be  noted  that  the  seven  hours  is  not  from  bank  to  bank.  To 
obtain  the  actual  day's  v^^ork  half  the  vv'inding  time  should  be  added. 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Female  Labour 

The  case  for  the  restriction  of  female  labour  was  stronger 
in  respect  of  mines  than  of  factories  and  mills.  Indeed, 
the  question  of  the  complete  exclusion  of  women  from 
industry  did  not  arise.  The  problem  was  different.  The 
progressive  view  was  not  that  women  should  not  work 
at  all,  or  that  they  should  receive  the  same  wages  as  men, 
but  that  they  should  not  have  to  work  for  such  long  hours, 
or  for  such  low  wages,  or  under  such  dangerous  conditions 
as  hitherto.  Above  all,  it  was  desired  to  prevent  women 
from  being  exploited  or  used  as  a  means  whereby  to 
degrade  the  standard  of  life  of  workers  generally. 

Various  measures  were  proposed  between  1841  and  1844 
for  the  protection  of  women.  At  one  moment  it  seemed 
that  both  youths  and  young  women  under  twenty-one  were 
to  be  treated  alike  and  that  adult  men  and  women  were 
also  to  be  on  a  level  so  far  as  hours  of  labour  were  concerned, 
but  by  the  Factory  Act  of  1844  it  was  enacted:  *'  That 
y  no  female  above  the  Age  of  Eighteen  Years  shall  be  em- 
ployed in  any  Factory  save  for  the  same  Time  and  in  the 
same  Manner  as  young  Persons  may  be  employed  in 
Factories." 

The  Act  also  contained  valuable  provisions  designed 
to  check  abuses  which  had  crept  into  the  administration 
of  the  earlier  Acts,  especially  as  regards  age  certificates. 
It  made  eight  the  minimum  age  at  which  a  child  could 
commence  work  in  a  factory,  and  provided  that  no  child 
>  might  be  employed  in  any  factory  more  than  six  and  a 
half  hours,  except  in  certain  exceptional  cases.  In  silk 
fapteries  a  seven-hour  day  for  children  was  established. 

Thus,  by  1844  woman  labour  had  been  aboHshed  so 
far  as  underground  mining  was  concerned;  a  minimum 
age  limit  below  which  children  might  not  be  employed 
either  in  mines  or  factories  had  been  established ;  maximum 
hours  beyond  which  {a)  women  and  young  persons,  {b) 
children,  might  not  be  employed  had  been  fixed. 

304 


THE    FACTORY 

Meaning  of  '  Factory  ' 

As  yet,  however,  it  should  be  fully  understood,  these 
egislative  checks  on  the  unfair  exploitation  of  defenceless 
llabour  were  of  limited  application.  Certain  mines  and 
certain  factories  and  mills  alone  were  affected.  The 
[tendency,  however,  was  to  give  a  wider  and  wider  rneaning 
to  the  word  '  factory.*  At  first  it  was  restricted  to  include 
only  cotton  and  woollen  mills  and  factories  employing 
three  apprentices  at  least  and  twenty  or  more  other  persons. 
By  1833  it  included  besides  cotton  and  woollen  mills  and 
[factories  any  "  worsted,  hemp,  flax,  tow,  linen,  or  silk  mill 
or  factory  wherein  steam  or  water  or  any  other  mechanical 
'power  is  or  shall  be  used  to  propel  or  work  the  machinery 
iin  such  mill  or  factory."  Even,  then,  however,  the 
I  provisions  of  the  Factory  Acts  did  not  apply  to  any  part 
!of  the  processes  of  fulling,  roughing,  or  boihng,  or  to  the 
!  packing  of  goods  manufactured,  or  to  lace  factories,  or  to 
any  other  kind  of  factory  except  those  above  mentioned. 
The  Act  of  1844  hardly  extended  the  meaning  of  the 
word  '  factory,'  though  it  did  include  factories  for  hair 
'and  jute  working.  It  expressly  excluded  factories  or  parts 
I  of  factories  used  solely  for  the  manufacture  of  lace,  hats, 
I  or  paper;  or  solely  for  bleaching,  dyeing,  printing,  or 
calendering,  for  packing,  or  for  repair  work  in  connexion 
with  either  the  machinery  or  fabric  of  a  factory. 

In  the  year  following  (1845)  a  special  Act  was  found 
necessary  to  regulate  the  labour  of  children,  young  persons, 
and  women  in  print  works,  while  in  1846  rope  works  were 
expressly  excluded  from  the  operation  of  the  Factory  Acts. 
It  was  not  until  i860  that  the  Factory  Act  Regulations, 
in  so  far  as  they  affected  the  employment  of  women,  young 
persons,  and  children,  were  extended  to  bleaching  and 
dyeing  works ;  in  the  following  year  lace  factories  were 
brought  into  the  list  of  factories  to  which  the  Acts  applied. 
Two  years  later  (1863)  a  special  regulating  Act  dealt  with 
labour  in  bakehouses,  while  in  1864,  by  the  Factory  Acts 
Extension  Act,  a  definition  was  given  to  the  word  *  factory  ' 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

which  was  more  consonant  with  what  we  to-day  commonly 
understand  by  a  factory.  Even  by  this  Act,  however, 
only  the  following  manufacturing  processes  were  brought 
within  the  Factory  Acts'  provisions :  (i)  the  manufacture 
of  earthenware  (except  bricks  and  tiles  other  than 
ornamental  tiles)  ;  (2)  of  lucifer  matches  ;  (3)  of  per- 
cussion caps ;  (4)  of  cartridges ;  (5)  the  employment  of 
paper-staining,  and  (6)  of  fustian-cutting.  Three  years 
later  (1867)  a  *  factory  '  was  defined  as  including: 

(i)  Any  blast  furnace  or  other  furnace  or  premises  in  or  on 
which  the  process  of  smelting  or  otherwise  obtaining  any  metal 
from  the  ores  is  carried  on  :  (2)  any  copper  mill  :  (3)  any  mill, 
forge,  or  other  premises  in  or  on  which  any  process  is  carried  on 
for  converting  iron  into  malleable  iron,  steel,  or  tin  plate,  or  for 
otherwise  making  or  converting  steel  :  (4)  iron  foundries,  copper 
foundries,  brass  foundries,  and  other  premises  or  places  in  which 
the  process  of  founding  or  casting  any  metal  is  carried  on  : 
(5)  any  premises  in  which  steam,  water,  or  other  mechanical 
power  is  used  for  moving  machinery  employed  (a)  in  the  manu- 
facture of  machinery  ;  (b)  in  the  manufacture  of  any  article 
of  metal  not  being  machinery  ;  (c)  in  the  manufacture  of  india- 
rubber  or  gutta-percha,  or  articles  made  wholly  or  partly  in  india- 
rubber  or  gutta-percha  :  (6)  any  premises  in  which  any  of  the 
following  manufactures  or  processes  are  carried  on  ;  namely, 
(a)  paper  manufacture,  (b)  glass  manufacture,  (c)  tobacco  manu- 
facture, (d)  letterpress  printing,  (e)  book-binding  :  (7)  any 
premises,  whether  adjoining  or  separate,  in  the  same  occupation, 
situate  in  the  same  city,  town,  parish,  or  place,  and  constituting 
one  trade  establishment,  in,  on,  or  within  the  precincts  of  which 
fifty  or  more  persons  are  employed  in  any  manufacturing  process. 

Later  Factory  Acts 

Apart  from  certain  amplifying  and  amending  Acts, 
such  as  the  Factory  and  Workshop  Act  of  1870,  which 
defined  the  terms  *  print  works  '  and  '  bleaching  and 
dyeing  works  '  in  a  wide  manner,  the  definition  of  '  factory  ' 
may  be  said  to  be  substantially  complete  with  the  passing 
of  the  1867  Act.  In  the  same  year,  however,  an  Act 
was  passed  for  regulating  the  hours  of  labour  for  children, 
306 


THE    FACTORY 

young  persons,  and  women  employed  in  workshops  as 
distinct  from  factories,  and  a  workshop  was  defined  in  the 
widest  possible  terms  as 

any  room  or  place  whatever,  whether  in  the  open  air  or  under 
cover,  in  which  any  handicraft  [i.e.^  any  manual  labour  exercised 
by  way  of  trade  or  for  purposes  of  gain  in  or  incidental  to  the 
making  of  any  article  or  part  of  an  article,  or  in  or  incidental 
to  the  altering,  repairing,  ornamenting,  finishing,  or  otherwise 
adapting  for  sale  any  article]  is  carried  on  by  any  child,  young 
person,  or  woman,  and  to  which  and  over  which  the  person  by 
whom  such  child,  young  person,  or  woman  is  employed  has  the 
right  of  access  and  control. 

In  future  the  principal  Acts  dealing  with  the  regulation 
of  industry  were  called  not  '  Factory  '  Acts,  but  '  Factory 
and  Workshop'  Acts;  the  most  important  of  these  were 
the  Acts  of  1878,  1895,  ^^^  1 901. 

State  Interference 

Though,  as  we  thus  see,  there  was  a  steady  extension 
of  the  provisions  of  the  Factory  Acts  so  as  to  embrace  more 
and  more  industries,  the  Government  in  one  matter  of  the 
first  moment  remained  adamant.  It  refused  consistently 
to  limit  the  hours  of  labour  of  adult  males.  The  Short 
Time  Committees  which  were  formed  to  agitate  for  a  ten- 
hour  day  pressed  constantly  not  only  for  a  ten-hour  day 
for  children  and  women,  but  also  for  one  for  male  adults. 
Nay  more,  they  were  inclined  to  resent  a  restriction  of 
hours  that  applied  to  one  only  of  these  groups  as  tending 
to  render  the  realization  of  their  main  hope,  the  limitation 
of  the  hours  of  adult  labour,  more  difficult. 

But  though  at  no  stage  in  the  history  of  factory  as  distinct 
from  general  labour  legislation  did  Parliament  deviate  from 
the  broad  view  that  State  interference  with  industry  should 
be  as  sHght  as  possible,  and  so  far  as  maximum  hours  was 
concerned  should  be  restricted  to  the  hours  of  children, 
young  persons,  and  women,  the  whole  tendency  of  the 
factory  legislation  was  to  make  the  conditions  of  labour 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

generally  better  and  still  better.  In  view  of  the  long- 
continued  and  bitter  struggle  that  was  waged  over  the 
ten-hour  day  there  is  a  tendency  to  regard  the  Act  of  1847 
as  a  turning-point,  but  in  our  view  the  turning-point  was 
reached  when  the  principle  of  limiting  the  hours  of  child- 
ren was  established.  From  that  moment  the  extension  of 
that  principle  both  in  the  direction  of  the  classes  to  fall 
within  it  and  in  the  direction  of  a  reduced  maximum 
hourage  was  merely  a  matter  of  time.  It  is  therefore  to 
the  Act  of  1833  rather  than  to  the  Act  of  1847  that  we 
look  to  find  the  pivot  of  the  legislative  control  of  our 
industrial  system. 

The  Relay  System 

The  Act  of  1833  Hmiting  the  hours  of  young  children 
to  eight  and  the  hours  of  young  persons  (as  in  the  case  of 
the  earlier  Acts)  to  twelve  had  been  received  sullenly  by 
the  operatives,  who  had  been  pressing  for  a  general  limita- 
tion of  hours  to  ten.  The  Act  of  1847,  limiting  the  hours 
of  women  and  young  persons  to  ten  hours  a  day,  was 
received  with  rapturous  delight.  The  mere  similarity 
in  the  hours  claimed  and  fixed  appears  almost  to  have 
persuaded  the  rank  and  file  of  the  movement  that  they 
had  achieved  their  object,  whereas  in  fact  the  Act  itself 
accomplished  little  owing  to  the  existence  of  two  factors : 
(i)  the  depression  of  trade;  (2)  the  relay  system. 

The  years  1846—7  marked  a  time  of  great  depression 
in  trade  in  both  England  and  America.  So  far  as  the 
cotton  and  woollen  mills  were  concerned  hardly  fifty  per 
cent,  were  working  full  time.  The  Act  when  it  came  into 
operation  declared  a  limit  which  the  condition  of  trade 
would  in  any  event  have  prevented  the  generality  of  em- 
ployers from  exceeding.  To  such  an  extent  was  thjs  the 
case  that  had  it  not  been  for  the  jubilations  and  congratu- 
latory meetings  which  took  place  throughout  the  country 
the  Act  would  have  come  into  operation  unnoticed. 

The  trade  depression  was,  however,  a  temporary  matter 
only;  the  Act    was    permanent  in  its  nature  and  applied 

308 


THE    FACTORY 

however  flourishing  trade  might  be.  But  with  the  revival 
of  trade  the  employers  sought  means  of  evading  its  pro- 
visions, which  many  manufacturers  truly  believed  could 
not  be  put  into  practice  if  a  profit  was  to  be  made.  Already, 
owing  to  the  loose  wording  of  the  Act  of  1844,  the  view 
had  been  taken  by  many  that  a  relay  system  was  not  illegal ; 
that  is  to  say,  that  although  the  individual  worker's  day 
might  not  exceed  ten  hours,  the  end  of  such  worker's 
day  could  be  more  than  ten  hours  from  the  beginning  of 
another  worker's  day.  Thus,  it  was  the  practice  in  some 
factories  for  persons  working  in  the  same  room  each  to 
come  and  leave  at  a  different  hour,  with  the  result  that  it 
became  practically  impossible  for  the  inspectors  to  enforce 
the  law.  Some  of  the  inspectors  strongly  contested  the 
legality  of  the  system,  but  the  magistrates  in  many  instances 
took  the  view,  subsequently  endorsed  by  Baron  Parke  in 
the  case  of  Ryder  v.  Mills,  that  the  relay  system  was 
legal.  As  a  result  of  this  decision  Mr  Saunders  reported 
in  1849  that: 

Nothing  but  one  uniform  set  of  hours  for  all  persons  employed 
in  the  same  mill  in  each  of  the  protected  classes  can  effectually 
guard  such  operatives  from  overwork.  I  find  the  truth  of  this 
proposition  confirmed  over  and  over  again. 

The  Act  of  1850 

Once  again  agitation  had  to  be  resorted  to,  to  give  effect 
to  the  plain  intent  of  the  legislature  and  to  obtain  obedience 
to  an  Act  of  Parliament  obviously  designed  to  promote 
the  well-being  of  the  people  at  large.  Lord  Ashley  was 
once  more  to  the  fore  and  was  suppHed  with  much  useful 
ammunition  by  the  inspectors,  and  as  a  result  the  com- 
promise Act  of  1850  became  law.  This  Act,  described  ,0 
in  A  History  of  Factory  Legislation  as  "an  important  turning-  ^ 
point  in  the  history  of  English  factory  legislation,"  provided 
that  in  future 

no    young    person,    and    no   female    above   the  age  of  eighteen 
years,  shall  be  employed  in  any  factory  before  six  of  the  clock    — 
in  the  morning  or  after  six  of  the  clock  in  the  evening  of  any 

309 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

day  (save  to  recover  lost  time,  as  hereinafter  provided),  and  no 
young  person,  and  no  female  above  the  age  of  eighteen  years, 
shall  be  employed  in  any  factory,  either  to  recover  lost  time  or 
for  any  other  purpose,  on  any  Saturday  after  two  of  the  clock 
in  the  afternoon. 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  consequence  of  the  above  the 
weekly  hourage  was  sixty-eight,  but  such  hours  included 
meal-times,  which  were  to  be  taken  between  7.30  a.m.  and 
6  P.M.  But  although  the  ten-hours  limit  had  thus 
been  sacrificed,  the  much  more  valuable  recognition  of  the 
,/)  principle  of  a  legal  day  had  been  obtained.  But  a  legal 
'  day,  be  it  observed,  only  applied  in  the  case  of  the  employ- 
ment of  women  and  young  persons.  Three  years  later 
it  was  extended  to  children. 

The  Act  of   1874 

The  conditions  of  labour  established  by  the  Acts  of  1 847, 
1850,  and  1853  remained  almost  unmodified  for  many- 
years,  although,  as  we  have  seen,  numerous  Acts  were 
passed  extending  the  application  of  the  Factory  Acts  so 
as  to  include  other  industries.  In  1872,  however,  the 
Factory  Acts  Reform  Association  was  organized,  mainly 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  passing  of  an  Act  to  limit 
the  hours  of  labour  to  fifty-four  a  week.  So  successful 
were  the  activities  of  this  Association  that  early  in  the  year 
following  Dr  Bridges  and  Mr  Holmes  were  appointed  by 
the  Government  to  inquire  into  the  conditions  existing 
in  the  textile  districts,  and,  those  Commissioners  having 
reported  in  favour  of  legislation  reducing  the  hours  to 
fifty-four  a  week,  a  Bill  was  introduced  into  Parliament 
in  that  year  limiting  the  number  of  hours  for  which  women 
and  young  persons  might  work  in  any  one  week.  The 
Bill  was  not  framed  in  any  way  to  limit  the  hours  during 
which  persons  might  work  either  at  the  commencement 
or  at  the  end  of  the  day.  The  day  might  begin  at  six  and 
end  at  six,  or  at  seven  and  end  at  seven,  but  two  hours  had 
to  be  allowed  for  meals  and  rest.  No  one  who  was  within 
the  protected  classes  might  be  worked  for  more  than  four 
310 


THE    FACTORY 

and  a  half  hours  without  a  meal,  nor  might  such  person  be 
employed  at  work  for  more  than  ten  hours  for  the  first  five 
days  of  the  week,  nor  more  than  six  hours  on  Saturday. 
The  total  quantity  of  work  which  the  employer  got  was  thus 
to  be  fifty-six  hours  a  week.  An  extra  half-hour  was  to  be 
employed  in  cleaning  at  the  end  of  the  week.  Half-timers 
could  only  be  employed  for  the  half  of  fifty-six  hours,  either 
by  being  employed  half  the  full  time  each  day  or  the  full 
time  on  half  the  days.  The  age  limit  for  children  was 
altered  from  thirteen  to  fourteen,  unless  the  child  could 
produce  a  certificate  showing  that  he  had  attained  to  a 
certain  degree  of  education,  though  no  specific  standard 
was  fixed.  The  operation  of  the  Bill  was  strictly  limited 
to  the  textile  trade,  though  Mr  Assheton  Cross,^  in  moving 
the  second  reading,  indicated  the  possibility  cf  extension. 

Despite,  however,  the  fact  that  the  Bill  was  based  upon 
the  report  of  Commissioners  specially  appointed  to  inquire 
into  the  facts  of  the  case,  and  that  it  had  the  full  support 
of  the  Government,  Mr  Fawcett  moved  the  following 
amendment :  "  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  House  it  would 
be  inexpedient  to  pass  those  portions  of  the  Bill  which 
impose  new  legislative  restrictions  on  the  number  of  hours 
during  which  adults  are  to  be  permitted  to  work."  The 
main  point  made  by  the  Member  for  Hackney  was  that, 
although  the  Bill  nominally  applied  to  women  only,  its 
real  effect  would  be  to  place  a  Parliamentary  limit  on  the 
length  of  the  day's  work,  and  its  general  application  would 
be  precisely  the  same,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  as  if 
in  every  clause  after  the  word  *  woman  '  they  had  inserted 
the  word  *  man.'  To  say  that  women  should  leave  a  factory 
at  five  o'clock,  and  that  their  labour  should  be  dispensed 
with  for  a  certain  time,  while  the  men  should  continue  at 
work,  was  to  proceed  upon  a  supposition  just  as  unreason- 
able as  that  a  steam-engine  should  go  on  working  without 
fuel,  for  the  labour  of  the  men  and  women  in  our  factories 
was  inseparably  intertwined. 

Mr  Fawcett  in  the  course  of  his  speech  adopted  the 
1  The  Home  Secretary — later  Viscount  Cross. 

3" 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

doctrine  of  a  distinguished  member  of  the  Government 
who  but  lately  had  thanked  God  that  in  England  people 
are  not  governed  by  logic.  The  opposition  was  certainly  not 
guilty  of  logic.  The  main  argument  adduced  against  the 
Bill  was  one  of  principle,  which,  if  sound,  struck  at  the 
limitation  of  hours  generally.  The  principle  of  Hmitation 
of  hours,  however,  had  long  been  conceded,  and  the  only 
point  at  issue  was  whether  the  detailed  application  of  that 
principle  was  to  be  altered.  Further,  as  Mr  Stanhope 
pointed  out  and  as  the  petitions  in  opposition  bear  witness, 
if  the  limitation  of  the  hours  of  women  can  be  regarded  as 
involving  in  practice  the  limitation  of  the  hours  of  men, 
so  also  does  the  limitation  of  the  hours  of  children.  The 
House  was  not  happy  at  finding  itself  transported  to  "  those 
lofty  regions  of  political  economy  "  which  have  so  frequently 
been  proved  to  be  too  rarefied  to  support  life — at  any  rate 
labouring  Hfe.  The  Bill  was  passed  into  law  and  came 
into  operation  on  January  i,  1875. 

In  introducing  the  above  Bill  the  Home  Secretary  had 
said:  "Nothing  would  give  him  greater  satisfaction  than 
to  be  able  to  place  before  the  House  a  measure  to  con- 
solidate the  whole  of  the  Factory  Acts,  which  were  in  such 
a  state  of  confusion."  Two  years  later  the  first  step  to 
achieve  this  end  was  taken  when  a  Commission  was  ap- 
pointed to  inquire  into  the  question  of  the  consolidation 
of  the  Factory  Acts.  The  Commissioners  in  due  course 
presented  their  report,  which  contained  113  majority 
recommendations,  together  with  a  minority  report  by  The 
O'Conor  Don. 

The  most  important  perhaps  of  these  numerous  recom- 
mendations were  to  the  effect  that  with  certain  amendments 
th^  Factory  Acts,  1833-74,  the  Rope  Works  Act,  1846, 
the  Lace  Factory  Act,  1861,  and  the  Workshop  Acts, 
*i 867-71,  should  be  consolidated,  that  the  places  of  work 
should,  as  in  the  Workshops  Regulation  Act,  1867,  include 
open-air  places,  that  not  only  mining  and  agriculture,  but 
all  domestic  employments,  "  by  the  occupier  of  a  rbom 
used  also  for  the  purposes  of  a  dwelling-house,  if  there 
312 


THE    FACTORY 

are  no  protected  persons  but  adult  women  employed,  and 
they  do  not,  in  addition  to  inmates,  exceed  two  in  number," 
should  be  excluded  from  the  operation  of  the  consolidating 
Act,  that  the  limits  of  hours  for  labour  should  be  in  all 
factories  and  workshops  6  a.m.  to  6  p.m.,  6.30  a.m.  to 
6.30  p.m.,  7  A.M.  to  7  p.m.,  or,  in  some  special  trades,  8  a.m. 
to  8  p.m.  or  even  9  a.m.  to  9  p.m.  all  the  year  round,  such 
hours  to  include  two  hours  for  meals  in  factories  and  one 
and  a  half  hours  in  workshops  (thus  continuing  the  existing 
law)  ;  that  the  regular  school  age  of  all  children  should 
be  from  5  to  13  years,  and  half-time  attendance  should 
be  conceded  as  a  privilege  to  all  children  beneficially 
and  necessarily  employed;  that  no  child  under  ten  years 
of  age  should  be  allowed  to  be  employed  in  labour  regulated 
by  the  consolidating  Act,  and  certificates  of  birth  endorsed 
by  the  certifying  surgeon  with  his  certificate  as  to  the 
child's  general  fitness  for  employment  should  be  required 
in  all  cases  of  first  employment  of  persons  under  sixteen ; 
that  sanitary  and  safety  provisions  should  be  extended  in 
scope  and  made  more  effective  in  the  manner  indicated; 
and  that  numerous  relaxations  of  the  law  in  respect  of 
particular  trades  should  be  made. 

The  following  important  recommendations  as  to  the 
absolute  prohibition  of  certain  kinds  of  labour  in  certain 
kinds  of  works  were  also  made  : 

(i)  The  prohibition  of  the  employment  of  children  and 
young  persons  in  occupations  tending  to  destroy  health, 
such  as  silvering  of  mirrors  by  the  mercurial  process,  white 
lead  manufactures,  etc. 

(2)  The  prohibition  of  the  employment  of  girls  under 
sixteen  in  all  occupations  unsuited  to  their  age  and  sex, 
such  as  brickmaking,  work  in  salt  works,  etc. 

(3)  The  prohibition  of  the  employment  of  children  in 
all   occupations    unsuited  to  their  age,    such   as   fustian-* 
cutting,  metal-grinding  trades,  glass-melting  and  annealing, 
dipping  matches,  etc. 

In  France,  under  the  Factory  Law  of  1874,  there  was 
a  general  prohibition    of  the  employment  of  children  in 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

dangerous  and  unhealthy  work,  and  the  recommendations 
of  the  Commissioners  on  this  point  were  largely  based  upon 
the  French  code. 

Several  witnesses  who  appeared  before  the  Commissioners 
would  have  gone  further  and  urged  the  desirability  of 
prohibiting  women  from  working  at  various  forms  of 
especially  heavy  or  dirty  work,  such  as  nail-making,  chain- 
making,  coke-picking,  but  the  Commissioners  did  not 
consider  that  it  was  necessary  to  prohibit  the  employment 
of  women  in  any  trade  except  those  from  which  they 
were  already  excluded,  e.g.^  employment  in  mines  under- 
ground, in  glass-making,  and  in  the  processes  of  melting  and 
annealing  glass. 

The  recommendations  of  the  Commissioners  were  the 
starting-point  of  a  new  type  of  consolidating  factory  and 
workshop  legislation  (what  we  may  term  the  consolidating 
Acts)  which  cast  into  the  form  of  a  code  the  law  relating 
to  employment  in  factories  and  workshops.  For  our 
present  purpose  these  consolidating  Acts  are  unimportant, 
for  they  merely  applied  or  extended  principles  already 
well  established. 

These  principles  were  substantially  the  same  as  those 
adopted  in  France.  The  legislature,  as  the  guardian  of  the 
nation's  health  and  well-being,  had  interfered  between 
employer  and  employed  along  the  following  lines : 

(i)   Insanitary  and    dangerous    conditions    had   been 
prohibited. 

(2)  A  certain   degree  of  education   had   been   made 

compulsory. 

(3)  Government  inspection  had  been  instituted. 

(4)  In  the  case  of  women,  young  persons,  and  children 

a  legal  day  had  been  established. 

(5)  Women,  young  persons,  and  children  had  been  pro- 

hibited from  engaging  in  certain  kinds  of  work. 

(6)  Age  limits  had  been  fixed  below  which  in  the 

various  industries  to  which  they  applied  children 
were  not  permitted  to  work. 

3H 


THE    FACTORY 

It  will  be  of  interest,  perhaps,  to  see  to  what  extent  other 
countries  had  journeyed  along  the  same  road. 

French  Legislation 

By  a  law  passed  on  March  22,  1841,  "  relative  to  child 
labour  in  factories,  works,  or  workshops,"  it  was  forbidden 
in  France  to  employ  children  under  the  age  of  eight  in 
certain  kinds  of  factories,  etc.,  e.g.,  in  all  employing  twenty 
workpeople  or  using  mechanical  power.  From  the  age 
of  eight  to  twelve,  in  such  cases,  children  might  not  be 
employed  for  more  than  eight  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four. 
From  twelve  to  sixteen  years  their  day's  labour  might  not 
exceed  twelve  hours,  such  hours  to  be  worked  between 
5  A.M.  and  9  P.M.  No  child  under  the  age  of  thirteen 
years  might  legally  be  employed  at  night  in  the  above- 
mentioned  kinds  of  factories,  works,  or  workshops  except  in 
special  emergencies  such  as  breakdowns  of  the  water  power; 
night-work  of  children  {i.e.,  young  persons)  between  thirteen 
and  sixteen  years  of  age  was  only  permitted  in  cases  of 
necessity.  Provision  was  made  for  the  certification  of 
age  by  civil  officers.  School  attendance  was  made  obli- 
gatory until  a  magistrate  (maire)  had  certified  that  the  child 
had  received  a  certain  measure  of  elementary  education. 

Power  was  given  to  the  administration  to  extend  the 
classes  of  factories,  etc.,  to  which  the  law  applied,  to  raise 
the  minimum  age,  reduce  the  hours  of  labour,  determine 
the  classes  of  labour  which  on  account  of  their  danger 
or  unhealthiness  were  unsuited  to  child  labour,  together 
with  many  powers  of  less  importance. 

Inspectors  were  appointed  and  provision  made  not  unlike 
those  already  in  existence  in  England  for  the  carrying-out 
of  the  law.  In  consequence,  however,  of  the  wide  powers 
given  to  the  administration  the  law  was  much  more  elastic 
than  in  England,  for  substantial  changes  could  be  made 
without  recourse  to  a  new  Act. 

By  a  decree  made  on  September  9,  1848,  the  working 
day  for  all  workpeople  employed  in  factories  and  work- 
shops was  limited  to  twelve  hours  of  effective  work,  but 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

exceptions  could  be  imposed  upon  this  general  law  by 
administrative  action.  This  decree  repealed  one  made 
on  March  2  in  the  same  year  reducing  the  duration  of 
the  legal  working  day  and  suppressing  piece-work.  The 
latter  part  of  the  decree  was  now  abrogated  and  the  former 
part  modified.  Three  years  later,  by  a  decree  made  on 
May  17,  1 851,  certain  exceptions  were  imported  into  the 
general  rule  laid  down  by  the  first  section  of  the  decree 
of  September  9,  1848,^  and  in  1866  a  special  decree  was 
found  necessary  to  deal  with  the  question  of  the  hours 
of  labour  of  those  employed  in  silk-spinning  mills. 

In  France  throughout  the  forties,  fifties,  and  sixties  of 
last  century  a  considerable  number  of  decrees  were  made 
dealing  with  the  question  of  dangerous,  unhealthy,  and 
disagreeable  trades,  classifying  trades  in  accordance  with 
the  degree  of  danger,  etc.,  attached  thereto,  and  excluding 
certain  types  of  labour  from  certain  of  such  trades.  These 
we  do  not  propose  to  touch  upon,  as  in  1874  a  law  was 
passed  dealing  generally  with  the  labour  of  children,  girls, 
and  women  in  industry.  This  law,  which  we  have  referred 
to  as  the  French  Factory  Act  of  1874,  had  originally  been 
presented  by  M.  Ambroise  Joubert  in  June  1871  and  had 
been  considered  and  debated  in  1872,  1873,  ^^^  1874, 
on  May  19  of  which  year  it  was  finally  passed.  It  was 
founded  on  the  fact  that  the  law  of  1841  had  not  been  fully 
carried  out  in  practice  and  was  an  insufficient  protection 
for  the  classes  it  was  desired  in  the  interest  of  public  health 
and  well-being  to  protect.  M.  Joubert's  proposals  were 
in  turn  based  upon  the  inquiries  of  a  Commission  which 
had  been  appointed  in  1867  and  which  reported  in  1870 
after  most  carefully  surveying  the  existing  factory  legisla- 
tion of  foreign  countries. 

From  the  report  of  the  Commissioners  it  is  clear  that 
the  place  of  honour  in  the  list  of  the  countries  which  had 
considered  the  well-being  of  factory  operatives  was  given 

^  In  particular  it  was  permitted  to  the  employer  to  employ  people  for 
more  than  the  legal  maximum  number  of  hours  in  cases  of  breakdown  in 
the  machinery,  etc. 

316 


THE    FACTORY 

to  England,  the  health  and  general  level  of  intelligence 
of  whose  people  were  favourably  commented  upon  by  the 
inquirer,  M.  Tallon. 

The  German  legislation,  on  the  other  hand,  is,  not 
perhaps  unnaturally,  in  view  of  the  date  on  which  the 
report  was  presented  (1870),  regarded  as  being  based  on 
the  German  desire  to  produce  as  much  cannon  fodder  as 
possible  by  protecting  child  life  in  order  that  the  child 
might  develop  into  the  soldier.^ 

The  French  Factory  Act  of  1874 

The  French  Factory  Act  of  1874  contained  the  following 
among  other  provisions : 

Children  and  girls  (Jilles  mineures)  might  not  be 
employed  in  industrial  work  in  factories,  buildings,  works, 
mines,  shipyards,  or  workshops,  except  under  the  following 
conditions : 

{a)  They  must  have  reached  the  age  of  twelve,  except 
in  special  cases  where  ten  was  the  limit. 

{}?)  Up  to  twelve  the  maximum  number  of  hours  was 
fixed  at  six ;  after  twelve  at  twelve,  both  periods 
to  include  a  rest  period. 

(c)  No  child  under  sixteen  might  be  employed  on 
night-work,  and  no  girl  or  young  woman  under 
twenty-one  years  of  age  might  be  employed  in 
any  factory  or  workshop  at  night.  Night-work 
was  defined  as  work  from  9  p.m.  to  5  a.m.^ 

{d)  Children  up  to  sixteen  and  young  women  up  to 
twenty-one  were  not  to  be  employed  on  Sundays 
and  public  holidays. 

*  Vide  Dalloz,  Recueil  Feriodtque,  1874,  pt.  iv,  p.  89:  "  L'Allemagne, 
de  son  cote,  depuis  longtemps  attentive  a  toutes  les  mesures  qui  pouvaient 
ranger  sous  ses  drapeauz  de  nombreux  soldats,  n'a  pas  hesite  a  reglementer 
rigoureusement  le  travail  des  enfants."  A  very  similar  motive  was  assigned 
by  M.  Cousins  to  the  Prussian  Government  in  encouraging  popular  education, 
in  his  report  at  the  time  of  the  passing  of  the  French  Education  Lavi^  of  1833. 

2  Certain  minor  exceptions  are  made  to  this  and  to  the  other  provisions 
of  the  law. 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

(e)  Girls  and  women  were  not  to  be  employed  at  work 
in  mines  underground,  nor  were  children  under 
twelve  to  be  so  employed. 

(J)  A  certain  degree  of  elementary  education  was 
made  necessary. 

{£)  Children  below  the  age  of  sixteen  might  not  be 
employed  in  certain  dangerous  or  unhealthy 
trades,  in  particular  the  manufacture  and  mani- 
pulation of  explosives,  corrosive  and  poisonous 
substances,  the  sharpening  or  dry  polishing  of 
metals,  glass,  etc.,  white  lead,  or  certain  work 
in  which  mercury  is  used  (silvering  mirrors, 
etc.). 

(h)  All  machinery  was  required  to  be  so  protected  as 
to  secure  the  safety  of  children  employed. 

Special  provisions  were,  of  course,  made  for  the  carrying- 
out  of  the  law,  a  certain  amount  of  police  surveillance  being 
allowed  in  addition  to  the  power  of  inspection  given  to 
the  fifteen  divisional  inspectors  who  were  now  appointed. 

The  above  law,  together  with  the  decrees  issued  there- 
under in  conjunction  with  the  laws  of  November  2,  1892, 
and  March  13,  1900,  as  subsequently  extended  by  the 
Labour  Code,  established  the  principles  upon  which  factory 
legislation  is  based  in  France.  The  law  of  1892,  indeed, 
although  in  its  first  and  most  important  section  it  defined 
with  greater  precision  (i)  the  kind  of  labour,  (2)  the  type 
of  workers,  (3)  the  categories  of  the  works  to  which  the 
law  applied,  did  not  materially  alter  any  of  the  principles 
already  established.  The  age  limit  was  raised  to  thirteen 
years,  and  women  as  well  as  children  were  excluded  from 
certain  dangerous  and  unhealthy  work  or  were  only  per- 
mitted to  do  such  work  under  special  regulations  as  to 
safety,  hygiene,  etc.  Generally  speaking,  therefore,  we 
may  say  that  the  French  followed  the  English  in  the 
matter  of  factory  legislation,  but  they  did  not  protect  quite 
to  the  same  extent  the  special  classes  to  which  the  EngHsh 
Acts  particularly  looked. 

3"8 


THE    FACTORY 

Switzerland  and  Belgium 

In  Switzerland  the  chief  restriction  on  the  employment 
of  child  labour  appears  to  have  been  in  the  direction  of  the 
fixing  of  an  age  limit.  Such  limit  varies  with  the  industry 
in  question,  and  is  sometimes  twelve,  sometimes  thirteen, 
and  sometimes  fourteen  years  of  age.  The  Belgians 
closely  follow  the  French  system,  and  have  legislated  in  order 
to  secure  the  safety  and  healthiness  of  factories,  the  instruc- 
tion of  children,  the  imposition  of  an  age  limit,  the  fixing 
of  maximum  hours  in  the  case  of  children  under  fourteen 
and  of  a  higher  maximum  in  the  case  of  young  persons  of 
from  fourteen  to  eighteen  years,  and  the  interdicting  of 
night-work  in  the  case  of  the  protected  classes. 

United  States 

In  the  United  States  of  America  statutes  have  been 
passed  from  time  to  time  in  most  if  not  all  the  states, 
having  in  view  the  same  reformatory  purpose,  or  kindred 
ones,  as  the  English  Factory  Act  of  1833  and  the  others 
of  like  character  which  followed  it.  The  right  of  the 
states  to  pass  such  Acts  is  sustained  under  the  police 
power.  The  subjects  covered  by  this  legislation  are 
summarized  by  Mr  Stimson  ^  as  follows : 

The  preservation  of  the_health  of  employees  in  factories  by 
the  removal  ot  excessive  ^ust,  or  for  securing  pure  air,  or  re- 
quiring fans  or  other  special  devices  to  remove  noxious  dust  or 
vapours  peculiar  to  the  trade  ;  statutes  requiring  guards  to  be 
placed  about  dangerous  machinery,  belting,  elevators,  wells, 
air-shafts,  etc.  ;  statutes  providing  for  fire-escapes,  adequate 
stjircases  with  rails,  rubber  treads,  etc.  ;  doors  opening  outwardly, 
etc.  ;  statutes  pro viding^jigains^ injury  to  the  operatives  by  the 
machinery  used,  such  as  laws  prohibiting  the  machinery  to  be 
cjeaned  while  in  motion,  or  from  being  cleaned  by  any  woman 
or  minor  ;  laws  requiring  mechanical^  belt  shifters,  etc.,  or  con- 
nection by  bells,  tu^es,  etc.,  between  any  room  where  machinery 
is  used  and  the  engine  room  ;     laws  aimed  at  overcrowding  in 

1  Labour  Legislation  of  the  United  States,  Sec.  45. 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

factories,  and  at  the  general  comfort  of  the  operatives  ;    and  many 
special    laws    [relating    to]    railways,    mines,    and    other    special  '■ 
occupations. 

Such  provisions  follow  rather  upon  the  precedent  set 
by  the  later  English  Factory  and  Mines  Regulation  Acts, 
but  in  addition  there  are  in  certain  state  statutes  (as,  for 
example,  the  Massachusetts  Acts,  c.  508,  1894,  and  c.  494, 
1898)  provisions  restricting  the  employment  of  women 
and  children  and  limiting  the  number  of  hours  they  may 
work.  Some  question  has  been  raised  as  to  the  con- 
stitutionality of  these  state  Acts.  It  has  been  urged  that 
they  constitute  class  legislation.  In  particular,  as  regards 
the  protection  extended  to  women,  it  has  been  strenuously 
contended  that  as  women  are  equal  before  the  law  as 
regards  their  power  to  contract,  no  effort  to  restrain  their 
freedom  of  contracting  can  be  tolerated.  Such  an  argu- 
ment is  a  return  to  the  views  expressed  by  some  economists 
in  England  more  than  a  century  ago.  It  is  an  argument 
which  tends  to  weaken  as  labour  becomes  stronger,  for  it  is 
manifest  that  under  modern  labour  conditions  the  health 
and  well-being  of  the  community  demand  that  the  future 
generation  shall  not  be  crippled  before  birth  nor  in  its 
early  youth.  It  is  the  protection  and  not  the  restraint  of 
the  employee  that  is  the  object  of  the  Factory  Acts,  as  it  is 
the  purpose  of  those  Acts  which  have,  for  example,  for- 
bidden persons  to  buy  poisons  except  under  very  stringent 
regulations.  The  good  of  the  community  demands  that 
in  some  circumstances  the  private  citizen's  freedom  should 
be  restricted;  it  demands  that  women  and  children  should 
not  be  allowed  to  do  that  which,  if  persisted  in,  will  not 
merely  injure  their  individual  health,  but  will  degrade  the 
character  and  stamina  of  their  generation. 

The  Provisions  of  the  Peace  Treaty 

The  modern  tendency  is  nowhere  better  shown  than  in 
the  Treaty  of  Peace  which  concluded  the  Great  War  and 
which  contains  so  many  clauses  designed  to  advance  the 
well-being  of  the  workers.  Though  the  labour  clauses  of 
320 


THE    FACTORY 

Part  XIII  of  that  treaty  are  by  no  means  restricted  to 
what  may  be  termed  factory  legislation,  this  appears  to 
be  a  convenient  place  in  which  to  produce  what  is  perhaps 
the  most  important  and  authoritative  pronouncement  of 
the  fundamental  principles  which  should  guide  modern 
labour  legislation  that  has  yet  been  made. 

The  new  spirit  which  to-day  inspires  Governments  in 
dealing  with  the  problems  of  labour  is,  indeed,  well  reflected 
by  the  preamble  to  Part  XIII  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace  with 
Germany,  which  is  as  follows  : 

Whereas  the  League  of  Nations  has  for  its  object  the  establish- 
ment of  universaLpeace,  and  such  a  peace  can  be  established  only 
if  it  is  basedupon,  social  j  ustice  : 

And  whereas  conditions  of  kbour_  exist..  involYijQg--Sii£h  in- 
justice, hardship,  and  priyatioi  to  large  numbers  of  people  as  to 
produce  "unrest  so  great  that  the  peace.,  and  harmony  of  the  world 
are  imperilled  ;  and  an  improvement  of  those  conditions  is  urgently 
requIredT^s,  for  example,  by  the  regulation  of  the  hours  of 
wortcpincluding  the  establishment  of  a  maximum  working  day 
and  week,  the  regulation  of  the  labour  supply,  the  prevention  of 
unemployment,  the  provision  of  an  adequate  living  w^age,  the 
protection  of  the  worker  against  sickness,  disease,  and  injury 
arising  out  of  his  employment,  the  protection  of  children,  young 
persons,  and  women,  provision  for  old  age  and  injury,  protection 
of  the  interests  of  workers  when  employed  in  countries  other 
than  their  own,  recognition  of  the  principle  of  freedom  of  associa- 
tion, the  organization  of  vocational  and  technical  education  and 
other  measures  : 

Whereas  also  the  failure  of  any  nation  to  adopt  humane  con- 
ditions of  labour  is  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  other  nations  which 
desire  to  improve  the  conditions  in  their  own  country  ; 

The  High  Contracting  Parties,  moved  by  sentiments  of  justice 
and  humanity,  as  well  as  by  the  desire  to  secure  the  permanent 
peace  of  the  world,  agree  to  the  following. 

Then  follow  the  chapters  which  detail  the  organization 
to  be  permanentlyjestlbtislied  for  the  promotion  of  the 
objects  set  forth  in  the  preamble.  Such  organization  is 
of  two  parts :  {a)  a  general  Conffrf^nrp,  of  Eeprefientativ^s 
of  members  of  the  League^   jb)  an   International  Labour 

X  321 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Office.  That,  later,  is  charged  with  the  collection  and 
distribution  of  information  on  all  subjects  relating  to  the 
international  adjustment  of  conditions  of  industrial  life 
and  labour  together  with  such  other  powers  and  duties  as 
may  be  assigned  to  it  by  the  Conference  of  Representatives. 
The  Treaty  then  continues  : 

The  High  Contracting  Parties,  recognizing  that  the  well- 
being,  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual,  of  industrial  wage-earners 
is  of  supreme  international  importance,  have  framed,  in  order  to 
further  this  great  end,  the  permanent  machinery  provided  for  in 
Section  i  and  associated  with  that  of  the  League  of  Nations. 

They  recognize  that  differences  of  climate,  habits,  and  customs, 
of  economic  opportunity  and  industrial  tradition,  make  strict 
uniformity  in  the  conditions  of  labour  difficult  of  immediate 
attainment.  But,  holding  as  they  do  that  labour  should  not 
be  regarded  merely  as  an  article  of  commerce,  they  think  that 
there  are  methods  and  principles  for  regulating  labour  conditions 
which  all  industrial  communities  should  endeavour  to  apply  so  far 
as  their  special  circumstances  will  permit. 

Among  these  methods  and  principles,  the  following  seem  to  the 
High  Contracting  Parties  to  be  of  special  and  urgent  importance  : 

First. — ^The  guiding  principle  above  enunciated  that  labour 
should  not  be  regarded  merely  as  a  commodity  or  article  of 
commerce. 

Second. — The  right  of  association  for  all  lawful  purposes  by 
the  employed  as  well  as  by  the  employers. 

Third. — The  payment  to  the  employed  of  a  wage  adequate 
to  maintain  a  reasonable  standard  of  life  as  this  is  understood  in 
their  time  and  country. 

Fourth. — The  adoption  of  an  eight-hours  day  or  a  forty-eight- 
hours  week  as  the  standard  to  be  aimed  at  where  it  has  not  already 
been  attained. 

Fifth. — ^The  adoption  of  a  weekly  rest  of  at  least  twenty- 
four  hours,  which  should  include  Sunday  wherever  practicable. 

Sixth. — The  abolition  of  child  labour  and  the  impositons  of 
such  limitations  on  the  labour  of  young  persons  as  shall  permit  the 
continuation  of  their  education  and  assure  their  proper  physical 
development. 

Seventh. — ^The  principle  that  men  and  women  should  receive 
equal  remuneration  for  work  of  equal  value. 

322 


THE    FACTORY 

Eighth. — The  standard  set  by  law  in  each  country  with  respect 
to  the  conditions  of  labour  should  have  due  regard  to  the  equit- 
able economic  treatment  of  all  workers  resident  therein. 

]S[inth. — Each  state  should  make  provision  for  a  system  of 
inspection  in  which  women  should  take  part,  in  order  to  ensure 
the  enforcement  of  the  laws  and  regulations  for  the  protection 
of  the  employed. 

Without  claiming  that  these  methods  and  principles  are  either 
complete  or  final,  the  High  Contracting  Parties  are  of  opinion 
that  they  are  well  fitted  to  guide  the  policy  of  the  League  of 
Nations  :  and  that,  if  adopted  by  the  industrial  communities 
who  are  members  of  the  League,  and  safeguarded  in  practice 
by  an  adequate  system  of  such  inspection,  they  will  confer  lasting 
benefits  upon  the  wage-earners  of  the  world. 

The  Conference  of  Representatives  has  power  to  make 
recommendations  to  the  members  of  the  League  relative 
to  labour  legislation,  or  to  draft  international  conventions 
for  ratification  by  the  members  of  the  League.  Conven- 
tions which  are  ratified  by  members  of  the  League  must  be 
applied  to  such  members'  colonies  and  protectorates,  with 
certain  exceptions  based  on  special  local  conditions. 

The  first  jiieetiiig...of_th^_Conf'erence  was  fixed  to  take 
place  in  1919  at  Washington.  TEe^genda  agreed  upon 
was  as  follows : 

(i)  Application  of  the  principle  of  the  eight-hours 
day  or  the  forty-eight-hours  week. 

(2)  Question    of    preventing    or    providing    against 

unemployment. 

(3)  Women's  employment  : 

{a)  Before  and  after  child-birth,  including 

the  question  of  maternity  benefit ; 
{b)  During  the  night ; 
If)  In  unhealthy  processes. 

(4)  Employment  of  children  : 

(a)  Minimum  age  of  employment ; 

(J?)  During  the  night; 

(J)  In  unhealthy  processes. 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

(5)  Extension  and  application  of  the  International 
Conventions  adopted  at  Berne  in  1906  on  the 
prohibition  of  night-work  for  women  employed 
in  industry  and  the  prohibition  of  the  use  of 
white  phosphorus  in  the  manufacture  of 
matches. 

Already  certain  advances  have  been  made  in  consequence 
of  the  activities  of  the  League,  and  those  who  have  perused 
the  reports  prepared  by  the  organizing  committee  for  the 
various  international  labour  conferences  will  have  been 
struck  with  the  informed  sympathy  and  understanding 
which  pervades  the  preparatory  work  of  the  League.  In 
no  age,  indeed,  could  the  historian  more  truly  say  with 
Macaulay  : 

The  more  carefully  we  examine  the  history  of  the  past,  the 
more  reason  shall  we  find  to  dissent  from  those  who  imagine  that 
our  age  has  been  fruitful  of  new  social  evils.  The  truth  is  that 
the  evils  are,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  old.  That  which  is 
new  is  the  intelligence  which  discerns  and  the  humanity  which 
remedies  them.i 

*  History  of  England. 


324 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE    HOME 

AT  the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill  some  steps  had 
already  been  taken  to  ameliorate  the  conditions  of 
labour  of  certain  sections  of  the  working  popula- 
tion employed  in  certain  kinds  of  work,  for  although  the 
important  Acts  of  1833  and  1847  lay  still  in  the  future 
the  ground  had  been  broken  by  the  Factory  Acts  of  1802 

and  1 8 19. 

When,  however,  we  turn  to  consider  the  home  environ- 
ment of  the  people  of  Britain  at  the  commencement  of 
Victoria's  reign,  we  find  a  condition  of  affairs  so  evil  as 
to  be  almost  incredible.  The  housing  conditions  confront 
us  with  wrongs  that  match,  and  more  than  match,  the 
villainies  that  were  being  perpetrated  under  the  butiy 
systern.in  the  mines,  and  that  had  been  effected  through  the 
pauper  apprentice  system  of  earUer  times.  In  this  branch 
of  our  subject  we  also  find  that  as  yet,  though  sporadic 
I  efforts  had  been  made  to  lessen  the  evil,  no  effective  action 
■had  been  taken  to  secure  by  legislation  any  improvement 
in  the  lot  of  the  people. 

I      For  the  greater  part  of  one  hundred  years,  indeed  one 

!  might  even  say  for  more  than  a  hundred  years,  a  general 

'  shifting  of  population  due  to  the  Industrial  and  Agrarian 

'  Revolutions  had  been  linked  to  an  increase  of  population 

extraordinary  in  its  magnitude,  which  had  combined  with 

an  indifference  on  the  part  of  the  employer,  the  employed, 

and  the  municipal  authorities  to  bring  into  being  a  state 

of  congestion,  of  squalor,  and  of  hideous  disorder  in  family 

and  town  life  that  affected  to  no  small  extent  the  lives  of 

the  working  classes  throughout  the  nineteenth  century  and 

which  has  left  us  even  to-day  the  evil  legacy  of  the  slums. 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

The  problem  which  the  early  reformers  who  worked  for 
better  and  healthier  houses  and  towns  were  confronted  with 
was  not  new  in  principle,  but  only  in  intensity.  As  we 
have  seen,  throughout  the  Middle  Ages  the  towns  of  this 
and  other  countries  were  ill-planned  and  insanitary.  While 
populations  remained  constant  both  in  numbers  and  in 
position  the  evils  resulting  can  be  gauged  simply  by  the 
plagues  and  fevers  thus  engendered ;  but  when  the  popula- 
tion was  doubled,  trebled,  and  quintupled  in  the  space  of  a 
generation,  and  when  the  congested  areas  rapidly  shifted, 
first  to  this  place  and  then  to  that,  to  ignorance  was  added 
the  cupidity  of  the  jerry-builder,  with  results  so  deplorable 
as  to  shock  the  modern  mind. 

General  Conditions 

Liverpool  has  since  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century  been  among  the  pioneers  of  sanitary  reform,  and 
was  prominent  in  the  movement  which  finally  secured  the 
passing  of  the  various  Acts  designed  to  secure  a  better 
home  environment  and  a  happier  and  healthier  populace. 
It  is  instructive,  therefore,  to  turn  to  the  evidence  of 
Dr  Duncan  given  before  the  Health  of  Towns  Commission. 
There  we  find  that  out  of  160,000  persons  belonging  to 
the  working  classes  and  living  in  Liverpool  in  1 841,  no 
fewer  than  56,000  were  housed  in  courts  and  20,000  in 
cellars.  These  cellars  were  ten  to  twelve  feet  square, 
generally  flagged — but  frequently  having  only  the  bare 
earth  for  a  floor — and  sometimes  were  less  than  six  feet  in 
height.  There  were  frequently  no  windows,  so  that  light 
and  air  could  gain  access  to  the  cellar  only  by  the  door, 
the  top  of  which  was  often  not  higher  than  the  level  of 
the  street.  Ventilation  was  out  of  the  question.  These 
cellars  were,  of  course,  dark,  and  from  the  defective  drainage 
they  were  also  very  frequently  damp.  Sometimes  there 
was  a  back  cellar,  used  as  a  sleeping  apartment,  having  no 
direct  communication  with  the  outside  air,  and  dependent 
for  its  light  solely  on  the  twilight  of  the  front  apartment. 
From  General  Kyflin-Taylor's  speech  in  the  House  on 
326 


THE    HOME 

April   1 8,  1 91 3,  it  appears  that  even  in  1864  there  were 
in  Liverpool  22,000  insanitary  houses,  and  out  of  a  popu- 
lation of  100,000  no  fewer  than  30,000  lived  in  cellars.        ^ 
1     In  Manchester  and  Salford  matters  were  little  better. 
A  large  proportion  of  the  population  lived  in  cellars,  10,000 
of  which  contained  no  furniture  of  any  kind.     The  con- 
dition  of  the   industrial   towns   of  Lancashire   has    been 
graphically  described  by  Engels,  as  a  warning  to  his  country- 
men of  Germany,  who  were  then  beginning  to  tread  the 
path   of  industry,   not   to   follow   in    England's   footsteps. 
Whole  rows  of  houses  were  found  built  in  half  dried-up 
watercourses,  chosen  to  save  cost  of  foundations,  and  in- 
evitably crippling  the  inhabitants  with  rheumatic  disorders. 
No  loveliness  existed  anywhere.     Gardens  were  banished. 
Barrack-like  buildings  were  the  best  that  were  offered  the 
people.     The  back-to-back  principle,  being  cheap,  found 
much  favour.     Hygiene  and  sanitation  were  alike  ignored. 
The  environment  in  which  nine-tenths  of  the. youths  and 
maidens~~orEirgT£nd  grew  up  was  deplorable.     In  Bury 
it  appeared  that  out  of  a  population  of  20,000,  773  families 
slept  three  or  four  in  a  bed;    that  209  slept  four  and^fiye 
in  a  bed;  in' 67"  cases  more  than  five  slept  together,  and  in 
a  few  cases  more  than  six.  ^ 

In  Bristol  in  some  instances  as  many  as  eight  people 
were  found  living  in  one  room.  In  Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne  140  families  lived  in  thirty-four  houses  in  one  street, 
and  230  famines  in  fifty  houses  in  another.  Camborne, 
in  Cornwall,  was  at  times  so  crowded  that  seven,  eighj, 
nine,  and  even  ten  and  eleven  persons  slept  andltookthexr 
meatsTTrSne  room. 

The  Slums  of  London 

In  the  Metropolis  itself  conditions  were  even  in  1884 
still  worse.  In  Clerkenwell,  at  15  St  Helena  Place,  a 
house  containing  six  .rooms  was  oc<:upied  by  six  families, 
and  as  many  as  ei^ht  persons  inhabited  one  room.  At 
I  Wilmington" Place  there  were  eleven  families  in  eleven 
rooms,  seven  persons  occupying  one  room.     At  30  Noble 

327 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  j 

Street  four  families  of  twenty-six  persons  in  all  were  found 
inhabiting   six   rooms.     A   small    house   in    Allen    Street 
was  occupied  by  thirty-eight  persons,  seven  of  whom  lived 
in  one  room.      In  Northampton  Court  there  were  twelve 
persons  in  a  two-roomed  house,  eight  of  whom  inhabited 
one  room.     In  Northampton   Street  there  was  a  case  of 
nine  persons  in  one  room.     At   5   Bolton   Court  a  family 
often  persons  occupied  two  small  rooms.     At  36  Bowling 
Green   Lane  there    were  six  persons  in  an   underground 
kitchen.     At   7    New  Court  there  were  eleven  persons  in 
two  rooms  (fowls  also  were  kept  in  these).     In  Tilney  Court, 
St  Luke's,  nine  members  of  a  family,  five  of  them  being 
grown  up,  inhabited  one  room,   10  feet  by  8.      In  Lion 
Row  there  was  a  room  12  feet  by  6,  and  only  7  feet  high, 
in  which  seven  persons  slept.     In  Summers  Court,  Holborn' 
there  were  two  families  in  a  room   12  feet  by   8.     At   9 
Portpool  Lane  there  were  six  persons  in  one  small  back 
room.     At  i  Half  Moon  Court,  in  a  three-roomed  house, 
w^^^  /ound  19  persons,  eight  adults  and  eleven  children,' 
and  the  witness,  who  had  much  experience  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood, said  that  he  could  hardly  call  that  house  over- 
crowded, as  he  knew  of  a  case  of  twelve  persons  in  one 
room  in  Robin  Hood  Yard,  Holborn.     The  list  can   be 
extended  indefinitely. 

The  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  indeed,  when  giving  evidence 

before  the   Royal    Commission    on    the   Housing    of  the 

Working  Classes,  which  commenced  to  take  evidence  on 

March  11,  1884,  and  which  issued  its  first  report  in  the 

following   year,   said,   when   describing   the   condition    of 

/  London  at  times  within  his  memory,  "  I  have  seen  once, 

I   but  only  once,  four  distinct  families  in   one   room,   each 

•    ^occupying  a  corner." 

Sanitary  Conditions 

The  evils  of  overcrowding  were  sufficiently  grave,  so 
grave  that  Lord  Shaftesbury  observed;  "If  I  were  to 
go  into  the  details  of  the  [moral]  consequences  of  over- 
crowding, particularly  in  single  rooms,  very  few  people 
328  ^  V     V 


THE    HOME 

wrould  believe  what  I  said."  The  misej;^  inflicted  on  the 
unhappy  dwellers  in  these  cellars,  alleys,  and  courts  was 
sufficiently  horrible.  But  it  is  when  we  turn  to  consider 
the  sanitary  CQiiditioii3  of  these  dens  that  we  reach  the  very 
nadir  "^Thuman  degradation.  I,orri  ,Sh?lteburY,  who 
had  spent  the  greater  part  of  a  long  Ufe  in  inquiring  jnto 
the  condition  of  the  working  people,,  must  be  our  witness 
for  many  of 'the  revolting  particulars  that  we  must  mention, 
and  it  is  desirable,  therefore,  to  indicate  in  some  slight 
measure  the  character  of  this  witness. 

The  Earl  of  Shaftesbury 

Lord  Ashley,  later  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  who  had  done  so 

much  already  to  improve  the  conditions  of  work  of  the 

people,  turned  his  attention  in,  1842J0  the  question  otthe 

housing  of  the  working  classes,  an_d  as  a  result  of  his  activities 

secured    the    establishment,   of    the    Labourers     Frmnd 

■  Soaetv," which  later  developed  into  the  Society  for  Imprgy- 

iinff    the    Condition    of  the    Labouring    Classes.     Ashley 

strongly  held  the  beUef,  already  given  expression  to  by 

Owen,  that  efficiency  depended  upon  moral  and.. physical 

qualities,  both  of  which  in-turn  depended  upon   enyirgn- 

me^.     He    could    have    subscribed    whole-heartedly    to 

O^n's  simple  philosophy,  described  by  Mr  Fay  as  con- 

.  sisting  in   the   view   that  "  environment  is  the  cause  ot 

i  differences  in  character,  and  environment  is  under  human 

I  control.     If  the  care  of  inanimate  machines  yields  such 

high  profits,  how  much  more  will  be  yielded  by  the  care  ot 

animate  men  and  women  ?  " 

But  Lord  Ashley,  unlike  Owen,  was  not  a  manufacturer, 
and  he  was  not  concerned  at  all  with  profits.  He  was  a 
humanitarian  who  would  have  struggled  to  secure  his 
ideals  had  he  been  persuaded  that  there  would  result  a 
decHne  in  the  profits  accruing  to  the  industries.  He 
approximated  rather  in  outlook  to  Owen  in  his  middle 
period  when  the  Manchester  man  was  endeavouring  to 
settle  his  rural  communities  at  Queenwood,  but,  unlike 
Owen,  he  never  permitted  idealism  to  run  away  with  him. 

329 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  j 

He  never  fell  into  the  error  of  assuming  that  human  nature 
was  perfect  or  that  unpractical  schemes  could  by  insistence 
be  foisted  on  an  unwilling  world.  He  proceeded  by  modes 
calculated  to  convince  the  minds  of  responsible  and  sober 
statesmen^  and  Hs"methods  secured  more  widespread  and 
lasting  reform^  than  were  achieved  by  any  other  man  of 
his  generation  or,  perhaps,  of  any  generation  in  our  history. 
Even  Bentham,  from  whose  mind  flowed  many  of  the 
purifying  streams  which  have  done  so  much  to  cleanse  our 
national  life,  secured  perhaps  less  than  the  great  and  noble 
Earl  of  Shaftesbury. 

The  State  of  the  Metropolis 

This,  then,  was  the  man  on  whose  answers  to  the 
questions  put  to  him  by  the  Commissioners  of  1884  we 
now  rely.  He  it  was  who  struggled  to  secure  better 
housing,  largely  by  means  of  iridivrdiiah'eTTt^prise,  coh- 
■^ced  as  he  was  that  the  conditions  lie  Bad  seen  not  merely 
conduced  to  individual  moral  and  physical  degradation, 
but  were  a  potent  factor  in  the  birth  and  growth  of  plagues 
and  pestilences.  The  condition  of  life  in  the  single-room 
tenement  niaybe  gathered  from  the  following  extract: 

Q. — In  cases  where  there  are  so  many  persons  in  a  single  room, 
how  do  they  practically  live  ?  Do  they  take  their  meals  in  that 
one  room  ? 

y/. — Yes,  they  take  their  meals  in  that  one  room.  They, 
if  there  be  more  than  one  family,  each  use  the  fire  in  succession, 
if  they  have  a  fire  ;  but  they  live  there  and  they  perform  every 
function  of  nature  there  without  any  exception.  Many  of  the 
worst  places  have  been  swept  away.  I  do  not  believe  you  will 
find  in  London  many  of  them  now,  but  formerly  there  were  a 
great  many  long  alleys,  and  when  I  used  to  go  into  them  if  I 
stretched  out  my  arms  I  struck  the  walls  on  both  sides.  They 
are  very  long,  like  a  tobacco  pipe.  In  those  alleys  lived  200  to 
300  people,  and  there  was  but  one  accommodation  for  the  whole 
of  that  number,  and  that  at  the  end  ;  and  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
say  that  it  was  so  tremendously  horrible  that  one  could  not  even 
approach  that  end.  I  went  with  Dr  Southwood  Smith,  and, 
accustomed  as  he  was  to  that  sort  of  thing,  we  could  not  possibly 


THE    HOME 

go  into  the  rooms  at  the  bottom  of  the  alley,  but  we  were  obliged 
to  speak  to  the  people  through  the  windows  above. 

Q. — The  air  was  so  foul  ? 

J^ ^The  air  was  dreadfully  foul.  The  sun  could  not  pene- 
trate, and  there  never  was  any  ventilation.  Many  of  those 
places  are  swept  away  by  the  operation  of  the  existing  laws. 

g. I  suppose  the  inhabitants  were  packed  tighter  somewhere 

else  ? 

J^ A  great  many  of  them  went  into  houses  that  were  already 

overcrowded. 

Lord  Shaftesbury  later  describes  '*  the  famous  Frying-pan 
Alley,  near  Holborn,  now  swept  away."     He  says  : 

I  inspected  the  whole  of  Frying-pan  Alley,  and  I  am  happy  to 
say  that  such  a  thing  does  not  exist  now  in  London,  and  could 
not  exist,  because  the  attention  of  the  officer  of  health  and  others 
would  be  called  to  it,  and  it  would  be  abolished.  Frying-pan 
Alley  was  a  very  famous  alley  in  Holborn,  like  one  of  those  that 
I  have  described  to  you  ;  it  was  very  narrow,  the  only  necessary 
accommodation  being  at  the  end.  In  the  first  house  I  turned 
into  there  was  a  single  room  ;  the  window  was  very  small,  and 
the  light  came  through  the  door.  I  saw  a  young  woman  there, 
and  I  asked  her  if  she  had  been  there  some  little  time.  "  Yes," 
she  said,  "  her  husband  went  out  to  work,  and  was  obliged  to  come 
there  to  be  near  his  work."  She  said,  "  I  am  miserable."  "What 
is  it  ? "  I  asked.  "  Look  there,"  said  she,  "  at  that  great  hole  ;  the 
landlord  will  not  mend  it.  I  have  every  night  to  sit  up  and  watch, 
or  my  husband  sits  up  to  watch,  because  that  hole  is  over  a  common 
sewer,  and  the  rats  come  up,  sometimes  twenty  at  a  time,  and  if 
we  did  not  watch  for  them  they  would  eat  the  baby  up."  I  am 
giving  you  that  as  a  typical  instance  of  what  went  on  in  London 
at  that  time.     That  could  not  exist  now. 

Again,  speaking  of  his  visit  with  Dr  Southwood  Smith 
to  a  cellar  dwelling  in  Tyndall's  Buildings,  the  Earl  says : 

I  went  into  a  low  cellar,  and  there  I  saw  what  your  Lordship 
[the  Marquess  of  Salisbury]  will  hardly  believe.  There  was 
not  so  much  wood  in  it  as  would  make  a  faggot.  There  were 
a  woman  and  two  children  there,  but  the  striking  part  of  it  is 
this  :    from  a  hole  in  the  ceiling  there  came  a  long  open  tube 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

supported  by  props,  and  from  that  flowed  all  the  filth  of  the  house 
above,  right  through  the  place  where  this  woman  was  living, 
into  the  common  sewer.  Nobody  paid  the  least  attention  to 
it.  There  were  no  health  officers,  and  no  people  looking  after 
the  matter  ;  and  I  believe  much  of  that  sort  of  thing  occurred 
in  London  which  could  not  occur  now.  Again,  in  another  place 
I  had  heard  that  there  were  people  living  over  cesspools.  I  could 
not  believe  it  possible,  but  we  went  there,  and  in  the  room  there 
was  boarding  upon  the  floor  ;  upon  that  boarding  were  living 
a  woman  and  three  children.  We  lifted  up  the  boarding,  and 
there  was  the  open  cesspool  immediately  underneath,  not  one 
foot  below  the  surface  of  the  room  in  which  these  people  were 
living  ;  and  so  mighty  a  cesspool  was  it  that  it  took  an  hour  to 
clean  by  means  of  the  machine. 

The  Water  Supply 

To  us,  accustomed  as  we  are  to  a  water  supply  so 
excellent  that  it  is  a  matter  for  harsh  criticism  if  a  house 
is  found  without  water  properly  laid  on,  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  imagine  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  middle  of  last 
century  in  Lx)ndon.  Then  the  water  was  supplied  to  the 
majority  of  the  dwellers  in  the  poorer  districts  only  once, 
or  sometimes  twice,  a  week.  In  particular  courts  there 
was  a  stand-pipe  put  up,  and  the  water  came  up  at  a  certain 
time  and  flowed  for  twenty  or  twenty-five  minutes.  All 
the  vessels  were  arranged  in  single  file  on  either  side  to 
catch  the  water,  and  some  old  woman  was  posted  at  an 
upper  window  to  shout  and  give  notice  when  the  supply 
was  coming  on.  The  people  then  rushed  to  get  as  much 
water  as  they  could  before  the  flow  ceased ;  and  many  of 
them  had  to  take  it  home  and  put  it  under  their  beds, 
where  it  absorbed  the  noxious  atmosphere.  This  was  the 
water  they  had  to  wash  with,  cook  with,  and  drink. 

Transport 

In  those  days  in  London  there  was  no  adequate  trans- 
port. There  were  no  motor-buses,  no  Underground. 
A  few  old  horse-buses  plied  for  hire  toward  the  end  of 
the  period,  but  for  the  main  part  the  poor  man  had   of 


THE    HOME 

necessity  to  walk  to  his  work.^  It  inevitably  followed 
that  the  workman  had  to  live  near  the  scene  of  his  labour, 
and  if  it  befell,  as  it  generally  did,  that  the  district  in  which 
he  worked  was  a  district  of  court  and  alley  he  had  to  inhabit 
these  places.  He  could  not  get  out  to  the  country.  When 
considering  the  mid-nineteenth-century  slums  we  must  not 
visualize  them  as  occupied  exclusively  by  the  submerged 
tenth. 

Pigs  or  Sties 

These  dwellings  were  often  the  '  homes  '  of  respectable 
and  hard-working  men  and  women.  Of  course,  the 
opponents  of  radical  reform  then  as  now  declared  that  it  is 
the  pig  that  makes  the  sty  and  not  the  sty  the  pig.  Lord 
Shaftesbury  dealt  with  this  argument  and  expressed  the 
social  consequences  of  a  wretched  home  environment  in 
words  which  even  now  are  worthy  of  remembrance.  In 
his  evidence  before  the  1884  Commission  he  said: 

I  am  sorry  to  say  that  I  have  both  heard  and  read  remarks 
that  are  very  injurious  to  the  masses  of  the  people,  and  likely  to 
prevent  any  reforms  being  made  on  their  behalf,  to  the  effect 
that  they  are  so  sunken,  so  lost,  so  enamoured  of  their  filth,  that 
nothing  on  earth  can  ever  rescue  them  from  it.  Now,  I  am  certam 
that  a  great  number  of  the  people  who  are  m  that  condition  have 
been  made  so  by  the  condition  of  the  houses  in  which  they  live. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  if  we  were  to  improve  the  condition  of  the 
dw^ellings  there  would  be  a  vast  number  of  very  bad  cases  who 
would  continue  in  the  filth  in  which  they  began  ;  but  I  am  sure 
that  no  small  number  might  be  rescued  from  it  by  being  placed 
in  better  circumstances,  might  have  greater  enjoyment  of  health, 
and  might  thus  be  much  improved  in  their  general  condition 
This  is  the  operation  of  it  :  at  the  time  that  these  alleys  that  I 
speak  of  existed,  we  have  known  from  observation  and  evidence, 
a  number  of  young  people  came  up  to  London  in  search  of  work. 
A  young  artisan  in  the  prime  of  life,  an  intelligent,  active  young 

1  Provisions  for  cheap  workmen's  trains  were  first  made  in  the  North 
London  (City  Branch)  Act  and  the  Metropolitan  Act,  1861,  though  it  is 
believed  that  certain  railway  companies  voluntarily  made  certain  reduc- 
tions in  favour  of  workmen  some  years  before  that  date. 

333 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

man,  capable  of  making  his  4.0s.  or  50^.  a  week,  comes  up  to 
London  ;  he  must  have  lodgings  near  his  work  ;  he  is  obliged 
to  take,  he  and  his  wife,  the  first  house  that  he  can  find,  perhaps 
even  in  an  alley  such  as  I  have  described.  In  a  very  short  time, 
of  course,  his  health  is  broken  down  ;  he  himself  succumbs,' 
and  he  either  dies  or  becomes  perfectly  useless.  The  wife  falls 
into  despair  ;  in  vain  she  tries  to  keep  her  house  clean  ;  her 
children  increase  upon  her,  and  at  last  they  become  reckless, 
and  with  recklessness  comes  drinking,  immorality,  and  all  the 
consequences  of  utter  despair. 

We  have  dwelt  at  some  length  upon  the  evils  of  the 
housing  system  which  existed  in  this  country  in  the  middle 
of  last  century  because  it  appears  desirable  for  the  reader 
to  be  impressed  with  the  immense  improvements  that  have 
been  effected — imp)rovements  which  the  existence  of  bad 
conditions  in  certain  areas  which  remain  to-day  is  apt  to 
cause  to  be  overlooked.  We  well  remember  that  one  of 
the  reports  issued  by  the  Coal  Industry  Commission  in 
191 9  said  of  the  miners'  houses:  "There  are  houses  in 
some  districts  which  are  a  reproach  to  our  civilization. 
No  judicial  language  is  sufficiently  strong  or  sufficiently 
severe  to  apply  to  their  condemnation."  We  are  aware 
that  grave  wrongs  still  exist,  but  if  the  evidence  upon  which 
the  above  stricture  was  based,  and  justly  based,  is  examined 
and  compared  with  the  evidence  given  thirty-five  years 
before,  it  will  be  seen  how  great  an  improvement  has  taken 
place. 

Distress  and   Laissez-faire 

In  some  times  of  especial  distress — times  which  fre- 
quently occurred  before  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws 
prevented  those  enormous  fluctuations  in  the  price  of  wheat 
which,  as  Cobden  once  observed,  resulted  in  either  the 
farmer  being  ruined  or  the  people  starved — the  miserable 
inhabitants  of  these  sordid  dwellings  had  cold  and  hunger 
added  to  their  misfortunes.  At  one  time  we  find  a  con- 
siderable part  of  the  entire  population  of  Rochdale  sleeping 
on  chaff"  beds  without  covering  and  attempting  to  live  on 

334 


THE    HOME 

incomes  ranging  from  sixpence  to  one  shilling  and  tenpence 
per  week.  In  another  town  we  find  a  poor  rate  of  fifty-six 
shillings  in  the  pound.  In  another,  people  buying  penny- 
worths of  mutton. 

As  Dr  Gibbins  has  told  us : 

In  Stockport  and  Manchester  more  than  half  the  master- 
spinners  had  failed  before  the  close  of  the  year  1842,  and  dwellings 
to  the  number  of  three  thousand  were  shut  up.  Five  thousand 
persons  were  out  of  work  and  walking  about  the  streets  in  idle- 
ness and  want.  In  Burnley,  another  manufacturing  town,  the 
guardians  were  obliged  to  write  to  the  Secretary  of  State  to  say 
that  the  local  distress  was  quite  beyond  their  management,  and 
a  Government  Commission  with  special  funds  had  to  be  sent 
down  without  delay.  Provision  dealers,  we  are  told,  were  subject 
to  incursions  from  wolfish  men  prowling  about  for  food  for  their 
children,  or  from  half-frantic  women  with  a  baby  at  the  breast,  or 
even  from  parties  often  of  a  dozen  poor  wretches  rendered  desperate 
by  hunger,  who  levied  contributions  upon  the  various  shops.^ 

Such  had  become  the  condition  of  affairs  and  such  had 
remained  the  depravity  of  the  common  folks'  environment 
that  we  can  but  wonder  at  the  apathy  which  was  shown  by 
the  Government  and  Parliament.  We  must  remeniber, 
however,  that  it  was  an  age  in  which  all  the  more  consider- 
able of  the  economists  and  political  philosophers  were 
ranging  themselves  on  the  side  of  freedom  of  contract  and 
non-interference.  As  Mr  J.  J.  Clarke  well  expresses  it 
in  his  work.  The  Housing  Problem : 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  period  which  elapsed  between 
1760  and  the  passing  of  the  Public  Health  Act  of  1875,  those 
responsible  for  the  government  and  administration  of  our  cities 
seem  to  have  been  blind  to  the  need  for  the  exercise  of  fore- 
thought and  care,  and  as  a  nation  we  entered  upon  a  period  of 
growth  and  change  quite  unparalleled  in  our  history,  without 
any  kind  of  governing  principle  of  town  development,  and  with 
an  almost  complete  absence  of  responsibility  for  good  administra- 
tion. .  .  .  Political  philosophers  were  committed  to  a  policy 
of  individual  liberty  exaggerated  until  it  meant  social  anarchy. 

1  Economic  and  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Century. 

335 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Landlords  and  manufacturers  were  eager  to  build  up  fortunes, 
and,  whilst  tenacious  of  rights,  were  forgetful  of  duties. 
Municipalities  were  so  ineffective  and  corrupt  that  in  1835  a 
Municipal  Corporation  Act  had  to  be  passed  to  lay  anew  the 
foundations  of  good  municipal  government.  The  people  were 
so  careless  of  their  homes  that  we  search  almost  in  vain  in  the 
records  of  the  earlier  labour  unions  for  any  word  of  protest  against 
the  squalor  of  the  streets  and  alleys  in  which  the  working  classes 
lived. 

The  First  Reformers 

The  movement  begun  by  Lord  Ashley  and  later  ex- 
panded by  Mr  Chadwick,  which  had  as  its  direct  purpose 
the  sweeping  away  of  these  deplorable  conditions,  proceeded 
in  time  along  three  main  roads:  (i)  the  replacing  or 
improvement  of  individual  houses ;  (2)  the  replanning  of 
entire  areas ;  (3)  the  improvement  of  sanitation.  They 
were  supplemented  at  later  times  by  schemes  which,  work- 
ing along  separate  lines  and  dependent  upon  individual 
endeavour,  were  designed  entirely  to  recast  the  form  town 
life  had  hitherto  taken,  and  which  sought  to  add  the  health 
and  beauty  associated  with  rural  retreats  to  the  social 
amenities  of  the  city.  We  shall  therefore  have  to  trace 
in  the  broadest  outline  the  improvements  effected  by  the 
Public  Health  Acts,  the  Torrens  and  Cross  Acts,  and  the 
later  consolidating  and  amending  Housing  Acts,  and  the 
much  later  activities  of  such  reformers  as  Ebenezer  Howard 
and  Cadbury  and  Lord  Leverhulme,  who  invented,  or 
gave  expression  to,  the  idea  of  the  garden  city.  We  must 
also  touch  upon  the  activities  of  those  philanthropists,  such 
as  Peabody,  Guinness,  Rowton,  and  Sutton,  whose  benefac- 
tions have  done  so  much  to  improve  the  housing  of  the 
poorer  classes  in  our  great  cities. 

Early  Measures 

The  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  had  begun  his  agitation  for 
better  housing  conditions,  as  we  have  seen,  in  184.2.  It 
was  not,  however,  until  nine  years  later  that^  Parliament 


THE    HOME 

was  induced  to  pass  the  CoinmonLodglng  Houses  Act 
and  jJi£.J  .q  hnn ring.  Classes  , Lodging;  Houses  "'Act' 0FT8  5 1 .    ff^ 
The  former  Act  provided  for  supervision  and  inspection**   j'^ 
the  machinery  of  the  Act  was  under  police  control  and^iKe       ^ 
measure  achieved  a  considerable  amount  oFg^ood.     The  ^^ 
latter  Act  permitted  public  authorities  to  build  houses  for 
the  people.     Its  terms  were  reasonably  wide,  but  it  proved 
a  dead  letter.     No  one  was  interested.     No  one  cared.    -^ 
Neither  TRe  municipal   authorities   nor  the  trade  unions 
concerned  themselves  in  the  matter.     Strange  as  it  may 
appear,  there  was  no  public  clamour  for  better  conditions. 
The  Act  achieved  nothing  owing  entirely  to  absence  of 
motive  or  incentive. 

From  now  onward,  however,  there  is  an  almost  con- 
tinuous series  of  Acts  dealing  with  either  housing  or 
sanitation.  Indeed,  the  earliest  Nuisances  Acts  date  from 
the  forties,  but  Sir  Benjamin  Hall's  Metropolis  Local 
Management  Act  and  the  powerful  Nuisances  Removal 
Act  were  passed  in  1855.  A  whole. „ series  of  .iiousing 
Acts  was  begun  in  1 866^  in  which  year  was  also  passed  the 
valuable  anaimportant  Sanitacy^Act,  subsequently  amended 
and  finally  replaced  by  the  PublicJHealtliAGt  of  18  74. 

The  Torrens  and  Cross  Acts 

The  Torrens  Act  of  1868  and  the  Cross  Act  of  1875 

mark  the  commencement  of  two  series  which,  proceeding 

along"liifferent  lines,  together  dealt  with  the  evils  which 

in  later  years  Parts  1 1  and  I  of  the  Act  of  1 8  90  were  designed 

to  remove.     By   the   Toxrens  Act   of   18.^8,    which   was 

amended  in  1879  ^^^  1882,  local  authorities  were  given 

the  power  to  inspect  and  condemn  individual  houses.     The 

purpose  oF  "tills  series  is,  indeed,  adequately  expressed  in 

Section  14  of  the  Act  of  1879,  which  states  that  purpose 

to  be : 

« 

(i)  The  providing,  by  the  construction  of  new  biiildings,  or  \ 

the    repairing   of  existing    buildings,    the    working  classes    with  1 

suitable~""dweinhgs,  ^situate  within   the  jurisdiction  of  the   local  ' 

authority. 

y  337 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

(2)  The  openingout  of  closed  or  partially  closed  alleys  or 
courts  inhabited  bytHe~  labouring  classes,  and  the  widening  orthe 
same  by  pulling  down  any  buildings^  or  otherwise  leaving  ~such 
open  "spaces~^s-may^  be  necessary  to  make  such  alleys  or  courts 
healthful. 

As  a  result  of  the  passing  of  these  Acts  substantial  minor 
improvements  were  effected  in  some  of  the  worst  quarters 
of  our  cities  and  towns.  But  the  remedy  was  essentially 
of  a  piecemeal  nature,  and  in  many  places  radical  treatment 
rather  than  pruning  was  called  for.  The  great  industrial 
centres  of  the  Midlands  and  the  North  had  sprung  up  like 
mushrooms,  and  the  defects  were  not  limited  to  this  and 
that  house,  but  to  whole  quarters,  whole  towns,  whole 
districts.  A  population  which  in  the  Middle  Ages  would 
have  manned  an  important  city  was  now  festering  in  the 
forgotten  slums  of  some  discarded  area.  The  principle 
that  had  been  followed  by  the  framers  of  the  series  known 
as  the  Torrens  Acts,  after  William  Torrens  McCullagh 
Torrens,  was  continued,  but  was  extended  by  the  new  and 
valuable  provisions  contained  in  the  so-called  Cross  Acts.-^ 

The  purposes  of  this  latter  series  are  indicated  in  t!ie 
preamble  to  the'^AcFof  1875,  which  is  as  follows: 

Whereas  various  portions  of  many  cities  and  boroughs  are 
so  built,  and  the  buildings  thereon  are  so  densely  inhabited,  as 
to  be  highly  injurious  to  the  moral  and  physical  welfare  of  the 
inhabitants: 

And  whereas  there  are  in  such  portions  of  cities  and  boroughs 
as  aforesaid  a  great  number  of  houses,  courts,  and  alleys  which, 
by  reason  of  the  want  of  light,  air,  ventilation,  or  of  proper  con- 
veniences, or  from  other  causes,  are  unfit  for  human  habitation, 
and  fevers  and  diseases  are  constantly  generated  there,  causing  death 
and  loss  of  health,  not  only  in  the  courts  and  alleys,  but  also  in  other 
parts  of  such  cities  and  boroughs: 

And  whereas  it  often  happens  that  owing  to  the  above  circum- 
stances, and  to  the  fact  that  such  houses,  courts,  and  alleys  are  the 
property  of  several  owners,  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  any  one  owner 
to  make  such  alterations  as  are  necessary  for  the  public  health: 

^  Named  after  Sir  Richard  Assheton  Cross. 

338 


THE    HOME 

And  whereas  it  is  necessary  for  the  public  health  that  many  of 
such  houses,  courts,  and  alleys  should  be  pulled  down,  and  such 
portions  of  the  said  cities  and  boroughs  should  be  reconstructed: 

And  whereas  in  connexion  with  the  reconstruction  of  those 
portions  of  such  cities  and  boroughs  it  is  expedient  that  provision 
be  made  for  dwellings  for  the  working  class  who  may  be  displaced 
in  consequence  thereof: 

Be  it  enacted,  etc. 

Working  of  the  Earlier  Acts 

For   a    time    many    and    valuable_ improvements    were 
effected,  particularly  by  the  Act  of  1875  as  amended  in 
1878,  but  it  was  soon  apparent  that  it  was  m  danger  of 
becoming   a   dead   letter    for   the   same   reasons   that   had 
killed   Shaftesbury's   Act   of   1851.     There   was   still   no 
motive  for  action.     Popular  opinion  was  apathetic ;  muni- 
cipal bodies  kept  an  eagle  eye  upon  the  rates  and  were 
apTto'Torget,  as  people  are  apt  to  forget  to-day,  the  evils  of 
the'slumT    As   in  the  Tudor   period,  the  wrongs  of  the 
submerged    tenth   caused    no   riots,    no    disturbances^   no 
commotion,   no  trouble.     They  were  submerged.     They 
were  careless  of  everything.     They  had  learnt  from  ex- 
perience  what  imagination   and   insight   had   taught   Mr 
Justice   Day,  that  *'  Drink  was  the  shortest  way  out  of 
Manchester  " — or   of    any   other   slum    area.     By    i33.^ 
Cardinal  Manning  could  state  that  "  in  the  last  four  years 
there  have  been  two  years  during  which  no  effort  whatever 
has  been  made  to  put  them  [the  Cross  Acts]  in  operation; 
...  in  two   years  there  has  been  in  each  only  a  single 
case." 

Private  Activity 

The  latter  half  of  the  century  had,  however,  been 
notable  for 'llTe~~actlvities  of  numerous^  philanthropists 
who  had  interested  themselves  in  improving  the  liousing 
conditions  of  the  working  classes,  and  who  worked  quite 
independently  of  Acts  of  Parliament.  Of  these  we  can 
mention  only  a  few  typical  cases.     In  France,  as  early  as 

339 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

i860,  M.  Godin-Lemaire,  a  manufacturer,  had  established 
his  FamiUstere  de  Guise  for  the  housing  of  his  workpeople 
and  their  families.  Flats,  three  or  four  stories  high,  were 
built  and  let  out  at  th.'e^ery  low  rental  of  three  and  nine- 
pence  per  month  per  room ;  nurseries  for  the  infants,  and 
schools  for  the  children  as  they  grew  up,  were  provided 
without  additional  charges.  The  financial  result  was  that 
M.  Godin-Lemaire  received  six  per  cent,  on  his  capital 
outlay.  The  social  effect  was  that  throughout  twenty-four 
years  the  police  had  nothing  to  complain  of  in  the 
behaviour  of  the  inmates. 

Four  years  later  (1864)  the  first  block  of  the  Peabody 
Buildings  was  opened  in  Spitalfields,  London,  and~was 
quickly  followed  by  others  that  were  constructed  in  Chelsea, 
Bermondsey,  Islington,  and  Shadwell.  They  were  the 
result  of  the  benefactions,  amounting  to  ;^5oo,ooo,  which 
George  Peabody,  the  wealthy  American  who  had  in  his 
youth  joined  as  a  volunteer  to  oppose  the  English  fleet 
which  had  entered  the  Potomac  and  was  threatening 
Washington,  began  in  1862  to  present  to  the  city  of 
London  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor. 

The  next  great  benefaction  was  not  made  until  1889, 
when  Sir  Edward  Cecil  Guiniigss,  later  Lord  Iveagh, 
formed  a  trust  FLind^]rX^'56,ooo  for  the  erection  of  working- 
class  dwellings.  It  was  while  examining  the  conditions 
of  life  in  the  poor  districts  of  London  for  the  purposes  of 
this  charity,  of  which  he  was  a  trustee,  that  M.  W.  L. 
Coxi^,  first  Baron  Rowton,  determined  to  do  something  to 
alleviate  the~~squaTor  ofthe  common  lodging-houses  then 
in  existence,  and  in  1892  the  first  of  the  Rowton  Houses 
was  opened  at  Vauxhall. 

An  even  more  splendid  benefaction  was  made  in  1896, 
when,  on  the  death  of  Wilham  Richard  Sutton,  the  sum  of 
;^2, 500,000^  became  availaBTe  ~ifer"  the  buitding  of  model 
dw^nings  in  the  larger  cities  of  EnglanH~'~and  especially 
in  London.  Long  before  this,  however,  much  admirable 
worinia.d  been  done  by  societies  jwhich  were  not  definitely 
philanthropic  in  nature.     But  both  the  Building  Societies 


THE    HOME 

(which  began  as  early  as  1809)  and  the  Co-operative 
Societies  rather  aimed  at  enabHng  the  individual  to  build 
or  improve  his  own  house  than  at  dealing  with  the  problem 
presented  by  overcrowded  and  insanitary  dwellings. 

The  Proposals  of   1885 

'  TheTloyal  Commission  which  inquired  into  the  whole 
subject  in  18^  and  1885,  after  mature  deliberation 
eventually  issued  a  report  which  contained  the  most , 
complete  recommendations.  Administrative  reforms ; 
sanitary  refems;  housing^reforms ;  the  cleari^  of  con- 
gested districts ;  transpoft  difficulties;  legal  anoVhalies; 
riting  auctions;  the  special  prol5!ems  of  the  rural  districts 
—all  wire  considered  as  a  concrete  whole.  The  immediate 
result  of  these  labours  was,  however,  insignificant.  The 
Act  of  1885  achieved  practically  nothing,  and  five  years 
later  it  was  found  necessary  to  pass  the  Housing  of  the 
Working  Classes  Act,  1890.     In  the  words  of  Mr  Clarke : 

The  Act  contained  litde  that  was  new,  and  far  less  than  the 
Commissioners  had  recommended  ;  it  was  rather  a  consolidatmg 
Act  collecting  and  revising  such  measures  as  had  been- adopted  m 
thrtofrens  Acts  and  Cross  Acts.  .  .  .  With  the  amendmg  Acts 
ofTgoo  and  1903,  It  constituted  until  1909  the  chief  legislative 
measure  for  housing  reform. 

It  gave  power  to  clear  large  areas^  ".  dangerous  to  health  L' ;    ^ 
to "T^imm^e  "buildings   "unfit   for  human   habitation";   to       ^ 
erect  buTrdihgs   in   the  areas    thus   cleared;    and,   in   the 
case  of  Towns,  to  erect  workmen's  dwellings  on  area^  not  ^ 
hitherto  built  upon.     This  later  power  contains  the  germ 
of  tomi-planning ;  the  two  other  chief  powers  were  valuable 
but  were  reduced  to  no  small  extent  by  the  insertion  of 
the  words  "  dangerous  to  health  "  and  "  so  dangerous  and 
injurious  to  health  as  to  be  unfit  for  human  habitation, 
for  as  the  Select  Committee  in   1906  pointed  out,  it  was 
found   difficult  to   get   magistrates  to   convict,   for  many 
defects,  though  serious  in  themselves,  may  not  be  directly 
injurious  to  health. 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

The  Committee  of   1906 

The  Act  of  1890  was  also  primarily  intended  to  cope 
with  the  evils  of  the  towns  and  was  only  incidentally 
applicable  to  rural  districts.  This,  coupled  with  the 
shrinking  of  the  rural  population  and  the  absence  of  public 
interest,  caused  the  Housing  Acts  to  become  a  dead  letter 
in  many  rural  parishes.  The  powers  were  sufficient,  but, 
in  the  words  of  the  Select  Committee  of  1906,  "the 
authorities  who  have  been  entrusted  with  the  carrying 
out  of  the  Acts  in  rural  districts  have,  generally  speaking, 
deplorably  failed  to  fulfil  their  obligations." 

The  result  of  the  recommendations  of  the  Committee 
of  T^.6  w^"^  t^^  passing  of  theHousing  and_Town.-pla  n  ning 
Act,__i909,  which,  besidesstrengthening  the  machinery 
for  ruraTimprovement,  made  much  more  extensive  provision 
than  had  formerly  been  the  case  for  the  designing  and 
carrying  into  effect  of  town-planning  schemes. 

Town-planning 

The  Housing  and  Town-planning  Act,  1909,  went 
considerably  beyond  any  of  its  predecessors,  and  was  perhaps 
the  firsi  serious  attempjtmade  in  this  country  to  secure  not 
merely  the  aboHti^n_  of^ositive!y_dangerous  and  unhealthy 
conditions,  but  also  the  amenities  which  are  to-day  asso- 
/i  ciated  with  a  well  designed  and  constructed  town  or  city. 
In  this  connexion  it  will  be  convenient  to  consider  the  steps 
that  had  already  been  taken  to  this  end  by  other  countries. 
The  need  for  legislation  along  the  lines  pursued  by  our 
Public  Health  and  Housing  Acts  had,  of  course,  been  felt 
in  other  countries  also,  but,  with  the  exception  of  France, 
that  need  had  never  been  so  insistent  as  in  England.  The 
United  States  of  America  did  not  have  to  grapple  to  any- 
thing like  the  same  extent  either  with  the  problems  of 
overcrowding  or  with  the  difficulties  due  to  the  construc- 
tion in  early  times  of  insanitary  cities,  and  although  an  Act  of 
Congress  passed  in  1879  dealt  with  sanitary  conditions, 
and  was  followed  in  the  eighties  of  last  century  by  numerous 


THE    HOME 

Acts  passed  by  the  various  state  legislatures,  the  question 
of  housing  never  reached  there  the  same  importance  as  in 
the  United  Kingdom. 

Germany,  on  the  other  hand,  had  risen  to  industrial 
and  commercial  importance  comparatively  late  in  hfe  and 
was  able  to,  and  in  fact  did,  profit  from  the  mistakes  com- 
mitted in  England.  The  same  may  be  said  of  many  of 
the  other  European  states. 

But  although  Housing  Acts  as  they  were  understood 
in  the  seventies  and  eighties  of  last  century  by^  British 
reformers  do  not  occupy  such  an  important  position  in 
the  lists  of  foreign  enactments  as  in  the  Statute  Book 
of  England,  the  still  more  advanced  principle  of  town- 
planning  was  first  given  expression  to  on  the  Continent. 

Continental  Schemes 

The  first  measure  to  achieve  the  regulation  of  the 
planning  of  building  areas  was  an  Act  passed  by  the  Italian 
legislature  as  long  ago  as  June  25,  1865.  It  anticipated 
by  nine  years  the  similar  legislation  of  any  other  country, 
and  up  to  the  year  191 1  had  never  been  modified  or 
amended.  Next  in  order  of  date  comes  the  Swedish 
Building  Law  for  Towns  Act  of  1874,  but  it  is  the  Prussian 
Town-planning  Act  of  the  following  year  which  perhaps 
occupies  the  most  important  place  in  the  legislative  history 
of  this  subject.  This  Prussian  Act,  though  originally 
applying  only  to  the  Kingdom  of  Prussia,  was  subsequently 
adopted  with  slight  modifications  by  the  other  states  of  the 
German  Empire  and  is  responsible  for  the  admirable 
building  schemes  which  have  resulted  in  German  towns 
and  cities  being  models  of  construction.  In  Germany  the 
power  to  enforce  the  law  was  placed  very  much  in  the  hands 
of  the  police  and  the  local  authorities ;  in  Sweden  Town 
Commissioners  work  out  the  town  plans  which  then  only 
require  the  Royal  assent;  in  Italy  the  central  State 
authority  alone  can  command  the  execution^  of  a  town- 
planning  scheme,  by  means  of  either  a  special  Act  or  a 
Royal  decree  or  a  decree  of  the  Prefecture. 

343 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

The  Act  of  1909  | 

I"  England^  under  the  Act  of  1 902^_the  Local_GoYern-' 
ment  Board  (now  the  Ministry- orTMt]i}~Husri^p^^ 
tjie^sdieme,  and  in  case  of  objection  the  scheme  must  be 
laid  on  the  tabJe_pfJboth  Houses  and  is  suspended  if  either 
House  presents  a  petition  in  opposition. 

Throughout  the  British  Empire  a  vast  number  of  Town- 
ships and  Town-planning  Acts  have  been  passed.  Such 
Acts,  though  pursuing  the  same  aims,  are  of  the  most  varied 
kinds  so  far  as  details  and  machinery  are  concerned,  and  it 
is  impossible  even  to  indicate  them.  It  may,  however,  be 
observed  that  in  this  matter  the  Orange  Free  State  led'the 
way  by  the  passing  of  the  Townships  Act  of  1874. 

The  powers  of  the  authorities  in  the  United  Kingdom 
have,  of  course,  been  widely  extended  by  the  very  recent 
amending  Act  of  191 9  in  conjunction  with  the  Acquisition 
of  Land  (Assessment  of  Compensation)  Act,  191 9,  but  the 
Acts  of  1890  and  1909  still  remain  substantially  intact. 
The  detail  of  all  this  legislative  activity  cannot  be  expressed 
in  a  short  compass,  but,  viewing  the  matter  broadly,  it  may 
be  said  that  the  following  position  has  been  reached.  The 
local  authorities  or  the  State  have  now  full  power  to  acquire 
land  for  building  and  to  build  thereon;  to  destroy  in- 
dividual houses  if  unfit  for  habitation  ;  to  clear  slum  areas ; 
to  raise  funds  and  to  subsidize  building  operations.  They 
have  the  power,  and,  what  is  more  than  the  power,  the 
desire,  so  to  plan  the  new  buildings  thus  erected  that  the 
home  environment  of  the  people  shall  not  merely  conform 
to  a  minimum  standard  necessary  for  the  pubHc  health,  but 
shall  also  make  for  improvement  in  the  moral  or  psychical 
well-being  of  the  inhabitants.  Not  only  in  England,  but 
throughout  the  civilized  world,  there  is  now  a  general 
feeling  which  is  in  harmony  with  the  view  expressed  by 
Dr  Robertson,  the  Medical  Officer  of  Health  of  Birming- 
ham, who  said : 

No  single  condition  in  the  lives  of  the  masses  has  such  a  damaging 
effect  on  health,  or  does  harm  in  so  many  other  ways,  as  bad 
344 


THE    HOME 

housing.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  I  feel  strongly  the  need  of 
raising  the  standard  of  '  housing,'  so  that  every  human  life  may 
enjoy  the  advantages  of  a  healthy  house  in  healthy  surroundings.  ^ 

The  Garden  City  Movement 

If  one  examines  the  plans  that  are  now  put  forward  for 
the  housing  of  the  working  classes,  if  one  considers  our 
modern  suburbs  and  compares  the  conditions  which  now 
exist  with  those  which  were  inquired  into  by  the  reformers 
of  only  seventy  years  ago,  one  must  be  struck  by  the 
immense  advance  that  has  already  been  achieved.  In 
assigning  the  credit  for  that  advance  prominence  must 
certainly  be  given  to  the  name  of  Ebenezer  Howard. 

It  was  in  the  closing  years  of  the  nineteenth  century 
that  Mr  Howard,  a  reporter  at  the  Royal  Courts  of  Justice, 
conceited  tKe'  sclieme  to  which  he  subsequently  gave 
expression  in  his  books  To-morrow  and  Garden  Cities  of 
To-morrow.  In  1899  the  Garden  _Gty_Assqci.ation  was 
founded  in  JEngland  and  has" since  conducted  a  pioneer 
movement  which  Has  been  followed  with  interest  in  most 
of  the  countries  of  the  world.  The  first  efforts  of  _this 
association  followed  upon  the  admirable  work  carried  out 
by  Mr  George  Cadbury  and  Lord  Leverhulme  at  Bourn- 
ville  and_Pqrt_SunHght  respectively,  but  IHey  gave  ex- 
pression'to  something  more  than  the  ideal  housing  of  the 
workpeople  employed  in  a  particular  factory  or  business. 
At  Letchworth  an  attempt  was  successfully  made  to  build 
up  in  an  entirely  rural  district  a  manufacturing  city  that 
should  at  once  meet  all  modern  requirements  in  respect 
of  business  convenience,  while  at  the  same  time  providing 
the  inhabitants,  even  the  poorest,  with  a  happy,  a  healthy, 
and  a  beautiful  environment.  Letchworth,  indeed,  stands 
by  itself,  for  the  other  so-called  '  garden  cities  '  are  really 
only  examples  of  admirable  town-planning  schemes  and 
do  not  aim  at  containing  within  themselves  all  the  complex 
parts  which  go  to  form  a  modern  industrial  town.  But 
as  yet  the  movement  is  young,  and  signs  are  not  absent 

^  Housing  and  the  Public  Health. 

345 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

to  show  that  it  is  vigorous.  Its  one  city  stands  already  as 
an  example,  and  beyond  that  the  idea  which  Mr  Howard 
gave  to  the  world  has  already  resulted  in  a  complete 
change  in  the  ordinary  methods  of  town  extension  and 
estate  development. 

The  Present 

But  although  the  tendency  has  been  steadily  upward, 
and  although  the  type  of  house  being  built  even  before  the 
War  was  immeasurably  superior  to  the  kind  which  had 
found  favour  a  few  decades  earlier,  as  may  be  seen  from 
Dr  Savage's  Rural  Housings  there  still  remain  many  gross 
abuses  to  be  removed.  We  speak  not  of  the  after- War 
house  shortage,  which  presents  a  temporary  problem, 
but  rather  of  the  conditions  which  still  exist  in  our  cities 
and  rural  districts  and  which  have  come  down  to  us  as  an 
evil  legacy  from  the  past.  Thus,  for  example,  the  author 
of  Amongst  the  Agricultural  Labourers^  when  speaking  of  the 
conditions  existing  in  a  certain  village  typical  of  many 
others,  and  writing  in  the  twentieth  century,  could  say: 

The  cottages  in  this  village  are  in  the  most  awful  state  of 
dilapidation  that  it  is  possible  to  conceive.  They  are  to  be  seen 
in  every  stage  of  ruin,  from  the  cottage  that  is  barely  tenantable 
to  the  heap  of  rubbish  that  marks  the  spot  where  a  cottage  formerly 
stood.  One  I  inspected  consisted  of  four  rooms,  two  up  and  two 
down,  with  what  had  been  formerly  a  small  brew-house  and  wash- 
house.  .  .  .The  front  room  downstairs,  which  was  the  best, 
measured  15  feet  8  inches  by  8  feet  2|  inches,  the  height  being 
5  feet  10  inches. ...  A  crazy  staircase,  that  threatened  to  give  way 
at  every  step,  led  to  the  room  above.  .  .  .  The  roof  was  in  holes, 
and  the  ceiling,  which  was  cracked  and  blistered  to  an  almost  incon- 
ceivable extent,  had  been  falling  to  bits  for  years.  No  repairs  had 
been  done  to  this  or  any  other  room  by  the  landlord  for  years. 
Old  skirts  and  rags  are  hung  over  great  holes  to  keep  out  wir^d  and 
rain.  But  in  spite  of  every  precaution,  the  place  in  bad  weather 
and  in  winter  is  a  swamp.  .  .  ,  The  '  room '  below  is  no  better 
than  a  yard,  and  is  open  to  the  weather  on  two  sides.  Of  the  brew- 
house  only  the  walls  remain  ;  the  door  and  the  roof  have  rotted 
away. 


THE    HOME 

But  even  such  examples  of  bad  housing  in  the  rural 
districts  can  still  be  more  than  matched  by  the  deplorable 
conditions  which  exist  in  the  slum  areas  of  our  cities.  No 
inconsiderable  part  of  our  population  is  still  being  born 
and  reared  amid  surroundings  which  sap  the  health  of" 
mind  and  of  body.  Our  people  have  still  to  bear  the  burden 
created  by  the  existence  of  vast  masses  of  men  and  women 
who  have  grown  to  maturity  in  an  environment  which 
renders  it  impossible  for  them  to  be  good  citizens  an(^ 
difficult  for  them  to  be  human  beings.  An  overburdened^ 
generation,  loaded  with  debt  by  the  greatest  war  in  history, 
is  heroically  endeavouring  to  cope  with  this  insistent 
problem.  A  future  generation  will  reap  the  fruits  of  our 
activities. 


347 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE    MENTAL    HORIZON 

WHEN  last  we  glanced  at  the  progress,  or  rather 
lack  of  progress,  which  had  been  achieved  in  the 
educational  development  of  the  masses,  we  saw 
that  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  vast  majority 
of  the  people  of  Europe  were  illiterate  and  had  available 
to  them  practically  no  means  of  attaining  to  any  high 
degree  of  culture.  We  have  seen  that  in  the  New  World 
new  and  more  fruitful  ground  had  been  broken,  but  that 
in  England  the  efforts  of  Brougham  had  been  relaxed 
and  the  principle  of  State  intervention  had  been  aban- 
doned for  the  time  being  in  favour  of  a  continuance  of 
voluntary  effort. 

Our  present  account  will  start  from  the  time,  shortly 
after  the  Reform  Bill  had  been  passed,  when  Mr  Roe- 
buck presented  to  the  House  of  Commons  proposals 
relating  to  State  intervention.  But  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  we  are  concerned  to  describe,  though  in  broadest 
outline,  the  history  of  the  masses  rather  than  the  history 
of  education,  it  will  be  necessary  in  the  first  place  to  con- 
sider the  general  state  of  the  mental  environment  of  the 
people  at  that  time,  and  as  in  such  matters  we  get  no  com- 
plete picture  of  that  state  by  regarding  individual  nations 
solely,  we  must  view  the  condition  of  affairs  not  only  in 
England.  We  will  therefore  retrace  our  steps  somewhat, 
in  order  to  describe  what  had  already  been  achieved  in 
Prussia  and  the  states  of  Germany,  and  in  France. 

Prussia 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  in  Europe  the  leading 
place,  historically,  in  all  matters  relating  to  popular  educa- 


THE    MENTAL    HORIZON 

tion  was  for  many  years  occupied  by  Prussia.  Luther 
succeeded  in  effecting  what  in  this  country  the  Lollards 
attempted  too  early — the  release  of  the  citizens  from  the 
spiritual  despotism  of  Rome.  In  England  a  similar 
movement,  which,  however,  never  possessed  the  same 
vitality,  broke  against  the  will  of  a  king  who,  though  willing 
to  overthrow  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope,  was  not  desirous 
of  altering  substantially  the  tenets  of  the  national  Church. 

The  Reformation  in  England,  though  it  gave  to  the 
people  a  Bible  in  English  which  all  were  permitted  to  read, 
did  not  confer  upon  the  masses  an  education  which  enabled 
them  to  take  advantage  of  the  gift.  In  Germany  it  was 
otherwise. 

From  the  time  of  the  Lutheran  Reformation  the  German 
parent  had  imposed  upon  him  as  a  religious  duty  an 
obligation  to  see  that  his  children  attended  at  school  for 
the  purpose  of  being  trained  in  a  knowledge  of  their  duty 
to  God  and  man.  In  the  words  of  Mark  Pattison  : 
"  From  the  time  of  Luther's  address  to  the  municipal 
corporations  of  Germany,  1524,  this  has  been  so  recognized 
whether  it  was  enforced  by  enactment  or  not." 

In   the   sixteenth  and   seventeenth   centuries,   however, 

the  education  given  was  religious,  and  it  was  not  until  the 

;  eighteenth  century  that  the  children  were  taught  to  write 

and  to  calculate.     For  a  time  such  compulsion  as  there 

was    came    exclusively   from    the    Church    in    the    form 

of  consistorial   edicts  which  began  to  be  issued  at  least 

as   early  as    1573.     But   when,   in   the  beginning  of  the 

:  eighteenth    century,    Friedrich   Wilhelm    began    to    issue 

royal  ordinances  for  the  regulation  and  improvement  of 

elementary  schools,  we  find  "  these  ordinances  assuming, 

not  enacting  de  novo^  universal  school  attendance  of  all 

I  unconfirmed  persons."     In  Wurtemberg,  indeed,  the  duty 

had  been  made  a  legal  and  binding  obligation  as  early 

;  as  1649. 

I  In  1763  a  further  step  forward  was  taken  when  by  the 
Allgemeines  Landschulregkment  oithdX  year  the  period  during 
which  children  were  to  attend  school  was  definitely  fixed 

349 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

at  from  five  to  fourteen  years  of  age ;  but  this,  though 
rendering  the  duty  more  precise,  merely  enacted  what  had 
long  been  the  recognized  practice.  Again  to  quote  from 
Mark  Pattison's  report: 

Compulsory  education  in  Protestant  Germany  never  had  to 
contend  with  an  adverse  public  opinion  ;    not  because  the  spirit 

!of  personal  liberty  is  wanting,  but  because,  since  Protestantism 
began,  there  has  never  been  a  time  when  it  was  not  thought  part 
of  parental  duty  to  have  the  children  properly  instructed. 

'  There,  as  in  America,  the  religious  difficulty,  which  has 
at  all  times  in  England  proved  such  a  stumbling-block  to 
universal  compulsory  education,  did  not  exist.  Sectarian 
animosity  had  but  little  vitality.  The  Protestants, 
Catholics,  and  Jews  were  capable  of  division  into  well- 
defined  groups,  and  the  kind  of  trouble  which  arose  from 
the  practical  difficulty  of  establishing  a  system  of  religious 
instruction  which  would  be  agreeable  to  such  sects  of  one 
religion  as  the  Wesleyans,  Baptists,  CongregationaHsts, 
and  Presbyterians  was  in  no  sense  present. 

Under  the  Prussian  system  as  eventually  developed 
toward  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  a  system  of  education  had  gro.wn__up 
which  is  notable  forits  universality  and  the  length  of  jtime 
for  which  the  pupils  remained  under  tuition.  Here  again 
Germany  was  fortunate  in  that  it  developed  into  a  great 
industrial  country  very  late  in  the  day,  so  that  it  escaped 
many  of  the  evils  which  were  present  during  the  pioneer 
period  in  England.  The  factory  school  in  Germany 
neither  attained  the  importance,  nor  offisred  the  same 
spectacle  of  abuses,  as  it  did  in  this  country. 

The  educational  system  of  Germany  is  also  notable  for 
the  sharp  division  whi^hr -was  made  between  the  internal 
affairs  of  the  school  and  matters  external.  The  iatter 
group  of  activities  relating  to  the  management  of  school 
property,  the  enforcement  of  attendance,  statistical  returns, 
and  investigations  of  charges  against  the  teacher  were 
regulated  by  a  board  of  management  under  civilian  control 


THE    MENTAL    HORIZON 

and  subject  in  a  very  considerable  degree  to  the  will  of  a 
civil  officer  termed  a  Landrath.  At  the  head  of  all  was  the 
Minister  of  the  Interior  in  conjunction  with  the  Minister 
of  Public  Worship. 

On  the  other  hand,  all  internal  affairs  relating  to  teaching 
and  discipline  were  under  ecclesiastical  control.  The 
clergyman  of  the  parish  was  ex  officio  in  the  position  of  an 
inspector,  and  was  in  turn  subject  to  supervision  by  that 
higher  ecclesiastical  dignitary — the  superintendent  of  the 
circle.  By  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  nearly 
all  the  schools  of  Germany  were  denominational,  and  a 
Catholic  priest  would  have  charge  of  a  Catholic  school  and 
would  not  interfere  in  any  way  with  a  Protestant  or  Jewish 
school.  In  the  few  mixed  schools  which  still  existed  in 
the  poorer  districts,  the  pupils  were  divided  into  groups, 
and  each  group  had  its  appropriate  ecclesiastical  superior. 

The  laws  which  were  passed  in  the  various  states  of 
Germany  to  control  the  education  of  children  were  through- 
out the  first  sixty  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  exceedingly 
numerous  and  cannot  be  treated  of  here.  The  result, 
however,  is  well  shown  in  the  following  table  for  1856, 
given  in  the  reports  issued  by  the  Newcastle  Commission. 


Province 

Number  of 
Children  of 
School  Age 

Number  of 
Children  in  the 
Public  Elemen- 
tary Schools 

Number 

of 
Schools 

Prussia 

Posen 

Pomerania 

Silesia 

Brandenburg 

Saxony 

Westphalia 

The  Rhine 

Hohenzollern 

440,897 
241,017 
222,169 
525.993 
375.331 
340,907 
255,808 

529.843 
11,286 

370,942 
213.487 
209,231 
503,468 

355.313 
337.416 
249,771 
507,605 
11,239 

4.487 
2,095 
2,506 
3,722 
2,936 

2,779 

1,836 

3.820 

III 

2,943,251 

2,758,472 

24,292 

351 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

To  the  above  numbers  attending  public  elementan 
schools  must  be  added  the  number  of  children  attending 
private  elementary  schools,  viz.,  70,220,  which  gives  {  i 
total  of  2,828,692,  and  shows  that  out  of  the  entire  chile 
population  of  the  Kingdom  of  Prussia  only  1 14,559  wen 
not  at  school.  In  most  of  the  other  states  of  the  Germar 
Confederation  the  results  were  not  quite  so  good,  though 
in  Wiirtemberg  they  appear  to  have  been  even  better. 

It  may  therefore  be  said  that  by  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth  century  the  most  essential  parts  oFthe  educatlona 
problem  had  been  solved  in  Germany,  and  that  for  man) 
years  before  the  proportion  of  illiterates  must  have  been 
extremely  small.  We  know  to  what  use  for  FotK  good  and 
ttl  the  German  State  subsequently  put  the  multitudes  of  in- 
teUigent  men  and  women  that  formed  the  masses  of  their 
people.  The  Germans  built  up  great  industries;  they 
formed  from  small  beginnings  a  powerful  empire  notable 
for  the  birth,  growth,  and  development  of  many  admirable 
social  institutions ;  they  were  on  the  high  road  to  material 
success  in  many  of  the  most  important  departments  of  life 
when  they  unloosed  a  war  destined  to  pull  them  from  the 
high  place  they  had  attained. 

France 

In  France,  as  in  England,  the  education  of  the  people 
was  for  many  centuriea  almost  exclusively  in  the  h^ds 
of  the   Church,  though,  unlik'e   England,  France"Toept'aii 
firm  grip  on  the  right  residing  in  the  State  to  determine,' 
in  the  ultimate  case,  what  education  should  be  given  and 
to  whom. 

In  the  opening  years  of  the  French  Revolution,  good 
promises  were  held  out  that  the  ignorant  masses  should 
at  last  be  enabled  to  attain  to  at  least  some  measure 
of  the  culture  which  comes  from  books.  These  fair 
promises,  like  the  proposals  of  Turgot  and  Condorcet, 
were  destined  to  achieve  nothing.  Indeed,  at  first  the 
Convention  appeared  to  possess  destructive  capacities  only. 
It  was  easy  to  decree  that  the  property  of  all  endowed  seats 


THE    MENTAL    HORIZON 

pf  education  should  be  sold,  and  that  the  profits  should  go 
to  the  State ;  it  was  a  simple  matter  to  break  up  all  the 
religious  associations  devoted  to  teaching.  These  things 
jwere  effected,  and  in  the  name  of  liberty  all  colleges  and 
I  faculties  were  dissolved. 

U  It  must  not  be  thought,  however,  that  the  Convention 
was  opposed  to  popular  education;  far  otherwise.  But  for 
a  time  in  France,  as  in  Russia  under  Soviet  rule,  theories 
•of  abstract  liberty  were  permitted  to  destroy  free  institu- 
itions.  The  ideal  that  a  free  state  could  not  permit  the 
{existence  within  its  organism  of  corporate  bodies  forming 
;an  imperium  in  imperio  was  the  peg  on  which  was  hung  the 
[destruction  of  everything  that  hitherto  had  opened  its 
doors  to  learning.  The  activities  of  the  revolutionaries 
were  so  fatal  that  Fourcroy  could  exclaim  that  France  was 
lapsing  into  barbarism.  It  was  only  when  the  tragedy 
and  horror  of  the  Terror  were  lifting  from  the  scene  that 
there  is  dimly  perceptible  the  development  of  those  con- 
structive conceptions  which  were  to  give  to  the  educational 
world  those  two  important  organisms — the  normal  school 
and  the  polytechnic. 

On   October  25,    1795,  appeared  the  most  memorable 

of  the  revolutionary  laws   relating  to   public  instruction, 

the  law  of  the  3rd  of  Brumaire,  year  IV.     This  law,  founded 

on  a  remarkable  report  by  Daunou,  organized  everything 

,  connected  with  instruction.     It  was   concerned   not  only 

i  with  primary  schools,  central  schools,  special  ^  schools ;  it 

I  also  regulated  the  public  museums,  the  public  libraries, 

and  the   Institute.     For  primary  schools  it  established  a 

state  of  things  which   endured,  with  little  change,   until 

1833. 

But  when  the  terms  of  this  law  are  examined  it  will  be 
seen  how  far  the  revolutionaries  had  receded  from  those 
idealistic  schemes  which  they  had  formerly  announced. 
The  State  was  to  have  supported  education  with  munifi- 
cence ;  schoolmasters  were  to  have  been  among  _  the 
honoured  of  mankind;  salaries  were  to  have  been  high; 
every  child  was  to  have  had  open  to  him  the  way  not  only 

z  353 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

to  the  rudiments  of  knowledge,  but  to  the  learning  of  the 
savants.  In  fact,  the  State  now  contributed  nothing  but 
the  schoolhouse,  often  merely  a  cellar;  the  schoolmaster 
was  paid  what  he  could  get  from  the  local  authorities ; 
the  child  was  to  read,  to  write,  to  calculate,  and  to 
understand  the  elements  of  the  republican  beliefs.  In 
the  words  of  Guizot,  the  French  Revolution  contributed 
to  the  cause  of  popular  education  "  a  deluge  of  words 
and  nothing  more."  It  did,  however,  as  Matthew  Arnold 
truly  observed,  render  it  impossible  for  any  future  Govern- 
ment to  estabHsh  a  system  of  education  which  was  not 
lay  and  which  was  not  national,  and  so  removed  from  the 
future  course  of  education  many  of  the  obstacles  which 
continually  impeded  progress  in  England. 

It  was  not  until  the  Ordinance^  of  February  29,  18 16, 
had  been  passed  that  any  State  contribution  was  given  to 
education.  By  that  ordinance  the  small  annual  grant  of 
/^20oo  was  made  a  charge  on  the  Public  Treasury.  In 
1829  this  grant  was  doubled;  in  1831  it  had  increased  to 
;^28,ooo,  and  by  1832  had  reached  the  respectable  total  of  , 
240,000.  ^  _      i] 

In  the  following  year  (1833)  a  law  was  passed  which 
founded  in  France  for  the  first  time  a  system  of  national  1 
elementary  education,  and  which,  in  the  words  of  I 
Guizot,  "  repaid  the  debt  which  the  country  owes  to  all 
its  offspring  so  to  train  them  that  they  may  become  human 
beings."  By  the  Ordonnance  du  Rot  relative  to  elementary 
education  issued  in  the  July  of  1833,  a  general  system  of 
national  education  under  the  control  of  local  authorities, 
subject  to  the  control  in  certain  points  of  the  Minister  of 
Public  Instruction,  was  established.  The  schools  so 
set  up  were  either  elementary  or  normal  schools,  though 
the  founding  of  higher  schools  was  not  excluded.  All 
private  schools  were  thrown  open  to  inspection  *  and 
were  required  to  be  healthy.  The  local  authorities  were 
ordered  annually,  in  the  August  of  each  year,  to  consider 
the  state  of  those  children  who  ought  to  be  given  free 
education  in  a  primary  school. 

354 


THE    MENTAL    HORIZON 

The  law  was  admirable,  but  its  execution  left  much  to 
be  desired.  There  was  no  local  wish  for  schools.  The 
officers  of  the  communes  frequently  opposed  the  officials 
whose  duty  it  was  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  education. 
They  complained  that  the  money  the  State  offered  could 
be  better  used  for  the  repair  of  the  roads.  In  1834,  out 
of  the  total  of  36,826  commune  only  some  20,000  were 
supplied  with  schools,  and  of  these  barely  one-half  possessed 
school  premises  of  their  own ;  in  the  other  half  the  school 
was  held  in  any  available  building — a  barn,  a  cellar,  a  stable, 
or  in  the  open  air.  Even  when  the  communes  did  possess 
its  own  schoolhouse  it  was  often  some  dilapidated  hovel 
useless  for  other  purposes — windowless,  fireless,  reek- 
ing with  damp.  In  one  case  it  was  found  that  eighty 
children  were  being  instructed  in  a  room  twelve  feet 
square.  Epidemics  not  unnaturally  reduced  the  child 
population  of  France  yearly. 

But  a  start,  which  in  its  manifest  defects  was  matched, 
or  more  than  matched,  by  the  schools  of  England  twenty 
years  later,  had  been  made,  and  the  subsequent  history 
of  French  popular  education  proceeded  upon  progressive 
lines,  so  that  to-day  France  is  among  the  most  highly 
educated  countries  of  the  world. 

England 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  two  chief  countries  of 
Europe  when,  shortly  after  the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill, 
Mr  Roebuck  made  his  apologetic  speech  in  support  of 
national  education  before  the  House  of  Commons  on 
July  30,  1833.  He  was  under  no  misapprehension  as  to 
the  temper  of  his  audience : 

It  would  be  idle  to  hope  that  a  subject  like  general  education 
could  engage  their  [the  politicians']  favour,  or  even  occupy  their 
thoughts.  Its  results  are  distant — the  benefits  to  be  expected 
from  it  can  only  be  attained  by  the  slow  operation  of  time,  patience, 
and  industry.  There  is  nothing  to  raise  the  wonder  and  admiration 
of  the  ignorant  many.  No  party,  no  individual  purposes  can  be 
served  by  promoting  it.     Nought  can  be  obtained  by  its  assistance 

355 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  | 

but  the  pure,  unalloyed  benefit  of  the  community  at  large.  No 
wonder,  then,  that  it  has  been  so  long,  so  steadily,  so  pertinaciously 
neglected. 

Roebuck's  Speech  ' 

But  the  times  were  changing,  and  it  was  on  the  ground 
that  with  the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill  the  old  order  of 
things  had  also  passed  that  Roebuck  based  his  case. 

If,  as  heretofore,  the  majority  of  mankind  were  content  to  be 
a  slumbering  mass,  an  inert  and  utterly  inactive  body,  then  the 
policy  [of  non-interference],  as  a  selfish  policy,  might  possibly  be 
defended.  But  this  is  no  longer  the  case.  The  business  of  govern- 
ment is  not,  and  can  no  longer  be,  the  affair  of  a  few.  Within 
these  few  years  a  new  element  has  arisen,  which  now  ought  to 
enter  into  all  political  calculations.  The  multitude,  the  hitherto 
inert  and  submissive  multitude,  are  filled  with  a  new  spirit.  Their 
attention  is  intently  directed  toward  the  affairs  of  State.  They 
take  an  active  part  in  their  own  social  concerns,  and  however 
unwilling  persons  may  be  to  contemplate  the  fact,  anyone  who 
will  calmly  and  carefully  watch  the  signs  of  the  times,  will  discover, 
and  if  he  be  really  honest  and  wise,  will  at  once  allow,  that  the 
hitherto  subject  many  are  about  to  become  paramount  in  the 
State.  I  speak  not  now  in  the  character  of  one  desiring  or  fearing 
this  consummation,  but  merely  as  one  observing  the  passing  events 
around  me,  and  I  mention  the  coming  circumstance  in  the  same 
spirit  as  that  in  which  an  astronomer  would  predict  an  eclipse  ; 
to  me  the  result  appears  inevitable  ;  and  I  therefore  cast  about 
me  to  learn  in  what  way  this  new  force  may  be  made  efficient  to 
purposes  of  good,  and  how  any  of  its  probable  mischievous  results 
may  be  prevented. 

The  State  grants  Aid  J 

The  appeal  thus  made,  supported  by  references  to  the  ■' 
recent  French  ordinance,  achieved  but  little.  The  State 
declined  to  make  itself  responsible  for  the  education  of 
the  masses,  but  a  small  concession  was  made  to  the 
progressives  by  the  grant  of  ;^2o,ooo  to  the  two 
great  voluntary  associations,  the  National  Society  for  the 
Education  of  the  Children  of  the  Poor  in  the  Principles 


THE    MENTAL    HORIZON 

lof  the  Established  Church,  and  the  British  and  Foreign 

■School  Society.  ^  i         n     .• 

i  The  State  grant  was  made  dependent  upon  the  collection 
of  private  subscriptions.  No  Treasury  grant  was  to  be 
Lade  to  any  school  unless  at  least  half  of  the  estimated 
expenditure  was  met  by  private  subscription.  This  principle 
of  basing  State  contributions  on  local  contributions  con- 
tinued to  be  a  prominent  feature  of  State  intervention  in 
England  even  after  the  passing  of  the  Education  Act, 
1870,  and  did  not  disappear  until  1876. 

Voluntary  Activity 

From  now  onward  voluntary  effort,  aided  by  small  but 
increasing  Treasury  grants,  was  for  many  years  the  basis  ot 
I  such  elementary  education  as  was  available  for  the  children 
i  of  the  masses.      In  addition  to  the  activities  of  the  above- 
mentioned    associations    the    Wesleyans     had    numerous 
I  denominational  schools,  while  in  all  the  factory  districts 
!  a    considerable    proportion  of  the  child-workers   received 
some  shght  tuition  in  the  schools  set  up  under  the  Factory 
1  Acts      In  addition,  there  were  a  number  of  private  schools 
'  which,  as  we  shall  see,  were  rather  of  the  nature  of  places 
where  children  were  '  minded  '  than  schools  in  the  proper 

sense  of  the  term.  .  r     ■,  1 

Looking  back  upon  the  activities  of  the  voluntary 
associations,  one  sees  a  number  of  most  worthy  men  and 
women  devoting  their  lives  and  their  abilities  to  the  service 
of  education.  One  observes  the  heads  of  the  traimng 
colleges  spending  their  strength  in  grappling  with  the 
desperate  task  of  training  teachers  in  three  months;  ot 
teachers,  ill-equipped  and  wretchedly  paid,  endeavouring  to 
instil  some  small  measure  of  culture  from  their  own  limited 

i  stock  into  the  minds  of  children  who  came  to  them  from 
bad  environments  and  needy  homes,  who  were  crowded 

i  together  in  small  and  unsuitable  schoolhouses  in  mixed 
sexes  and  ages,  and  who  devoted  but  a  short  space  of  their 
lives— frequently  not  more  than  150  days— to  the  pursuit 
of  'knowledge.'     It  would  ill  become  us,  therefore,  to  cast 

357 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 


i 


aspersions  or  slights  upon  the  work  of  the  faithful  band 
who  did  their  best  to  reach  the  minds  of  the  multitude  of 
children  who  attended  the  voluntary  schools  during  last 
century,  but  it  must  be  stated  that  they  failed,  and  failed 
completely,  to  'educate*  the  masses.  The  fault,  we  are 
persuaded,  was  not  theirs.  They  laboured,  and  they 
laboured  hard,  to  give  of  their  best.  They  asked  for  none, 
and  received  none,  of  the  prizes  of  learning.  But  their 
best  was  of  necessity  a  poor  best ;  their  task,  stupendous  as 
it  was,  was  beyond  their  powers.  As  a  result,  popular 
education  in  this  country  has  never,  in  our  opinion,  got  on 
to  the  right  lines  even  to-day.  As  a  revulsion  from  the 
few  poor  facts  that  once  were  taught,  we  now  have  children 
being  instructed  in  the  rudiments  of  all  manner  of  subjects 
for  which  they  can  have  no  use  and  of  which  they  can  only 
acquire  a  smattering.  The  philosophy  of  education,  though 
fully  understood  by  many  engaged  in  elementary  education, 
has  never  been  the  dominant  pursuit  of  the  system  as  a 
whole.  The  child  of  the  masses  even  to-day  is  not  educated. 
He  is  not  taught  to  think  for  himself  along  right  and  just 
lines.  He  has  no  inkling,  save  in  rare  cases,  of  the  majesty 
of  the  world  in  which  he  lives  or  of  the  potential  greatness 
of  his  own  nature.  But  compared  with  a  hundred  or  even 
fifty  years  ago  the  advances  made  have  been  considerable. 
But  we  enter  a  caveat  against  the  view  that  the  spiritual 
advances  have  been  as  great  as  the  material  improvements. 

Brougham's  Proposals 

The  grant  established  in  1833  continued  without  change 
until  1839,  when  it  was  increased  to  ^^30,000  and  a  Com- 
mittee of  Council  was  appointed  to  superintend  the  ex- 
penditure of  the  sums  thus  publicly  contributed.  In 
the  same  year  Brougham  again  introduced  a  Bill  designed 
to  secure  the  aid  of  the  rates  in  support  of  popularly  con- 
trolled elementary  education.  But  although  the  religious 
instruction  aimed  at  in  this  measure  was  based  upon  the 
Bible  and  not  upon  particular  creeds,  both  the  National 
Society  and  the  Established  Church  vigorously  opposed  it 

3S8 


THE  MENTAL  HORIZON 
on  religious  grounds  and  secured  its  rejection  The  same 
5posilon  wfs  able  to  secure  the  defeat  of  the  Government 
p^Losals  for  founding  a  normal  school  f"?-  '^e  trammg 
of  school  teachers.  In  one  other  direction,  however, 
an  imoortant  step  forward  was  now  taken. 

Mtherto  he  v'^luntary  and  private  schools  had  alike  been 
entirely  free  from  Government  inspection,  or  inspection 
of  any  sort.  In  some  cases,  as  a  result,  very  serious  abuses 
had  arisen  Many  years  afterward,  as  we  shall  see,  even 
after^nsp;ction  had  been  instituted,  the  schools  were 
nnsnitrble  the  rooms  crowded,  the  books  and  niaterials 
nc^^s'r^:  instruction  deficient^  and  the  teachers  ,1  iterate 
or  uncultured.  Before  inspection  was  established  the 
position  was  still  worse.  Inspection  by,  or  on  behalf  of, 
the  Government  was  first  estabhshed  in  1839- 

Four  years  later  Sir  James  Graham  attempted,  but  failed 
to  secme  the  inclusion  of  compulsory  education  clauses 
n  his  Factory  Bill.  Once  again  religion  was  the  ground 
on  which  the%roposals  were'combated  though  now  the 
fear  of  high  raters  was  added  to  the  fear  of  low  morals.  The 
clauses  were  lost,  and  Graham  was  convinced  that  a  "a  lonal 
scheme  of  education  was  an  impossibility  and  should  be 
finally  abandoned  as  hopeless. 

The  Voluntary  Effort — Results 

The  success  which  had  attended  the  voluntary  efFort 
and  the  abuses  which  had  grown  up  under  the  Jf  m  of 
laissez-faire  consistently  pursued  by  successive  G°vetnnien 
are  alike  reflected  in  the  voluminous  and  exhaustive  reports 
issued  by  the  Newcastle  Commission  which  eommenced 
its  inquiries  in  1858  and  issued  its  report  '"1 861.  By 
that  date  the  annual  Treasury  grant  had  reached  he  not 
nconsiderable  figure  of  ,£800,000.  Many  schools  were 
still  uninspected  and  several  of  the  poorer  districts  were 
still  without  any  educational  facilities  worthy  of  the  name 
Theltatistical  results  may  perhaps  be  stated  with  sufficient 
accuracy  as  follows :  .     .        ^^     a^a 

Of  all  the  children  in  this  country  the  majority  attended 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

school  for  less  than  150  days  in  a  year,  and  40*96  per  cent, 
attended  for  less  than  one  year.  Of  those  who  attended 
for  more  than  one  year  the  following  table  shows  the 
percentages : 


Period  of  Attendance 

Percentage  of 

Whole 

Less  than  two  years           .... 

„           three  years         .... 

„          four  years           .... 

„           five  years           .... 
More  than  five  years         .... 

24  -21 

14-82 

9-52 

5-65 

4-84 

Total  59-04 

With  regard  to  the  wealthier  districts,  the  schools 
established  by  the  National  and  British  Associations  were 
doing  admirable  work  and  were  successfully  teaching  the 
majority  of  the  children  the  rudiments  of  learning.  Taking 
the  country  as  a  whole,  however,  it  was  shown  that  about 
one-half  of  the  child  population  went  to  school,  and  of  this 
one-half,  a  quarter,  or  an  eighth  of  the  whole,  were  being 
successfully  taught  the  '  three  R's.* 

The  advance  made  between  the  years  1856  and  i860 
had  not  indeed  been  notable.  In  1856  42  per  cent, 
attended  less  than  one  year,  22  per  cent,  one  year  and  less 
than  two,  1 5  per  cent,  two  years  and  less  than  three.  The 
establishment  in  that  year  of  the  office  of  Vice-President  of 
the  Committee  of  Council  to  represent  education  in  the 
House  of  Commons  had  thus  had  no  appreciable  effect. 

Condition  of  Factory  Schools 

Of  the  children  who  fall  within  these  statistics  and  are 
shown  as  receiving  *  education,'  many  were  half-timers 
attending  factory  schools,  their  school  fees  being  contributed 
in  whole  or  in  part  by  their  parents.  Of  these  schools 
we  obtain  a  picture  in  the  evidence  given  by  Mr  Horner, 
360 


THE    MENTAL    HORIZON 

a  factory  inspector,  who  said :  "  I  have  been  in  many 
such  schools,  where  I  have  seen  rows  of  children  doing 
absolutely  nothing."  In  one  school,  where  there  were 
sixty-two  factory  children,  the  master  had  been  appointed 
because  he  had  met  with  an  accident  in  the  mill ;  in  another, 
where  the  appointment  had  been  due  to  the  same  cause,  the 
master  could  not  read  the  Bible  without  making  mistakes ; 
in  another,  where  the  school  was  a  cellar,  the  master  had 
been  a  soldier  and  was  quite  uneducated,  and  the  children 
did  and  learnt  nothing;  in  another,  eighty  children  were 
crammed  in  a  room  15  by  15  feet,  used  partly  as  a  barber's 
shop.  Out  of  426  schools  in  one  factory  district  76  could 
be  classed  (on  the  standards  of  those  days)  as  good;  26 
as  tolerably  good;  146  as  indifferent;  112  as  less  than 
indifferent;  and  66  as  deplorably  bad,  or,  in  the  words  of 
the  Commissioners :  "  positively  mischievous,  as  decep- 
tions and  a  fraud  on  the  poor,  ignorant  parents  who  pay  the 
school  fees." 

Even  in  many  National  and  British  schools,  owing  to 
the  inadequate  state  of  their  funds,  the  evil  existed  of 
infants  being  admitted  with  children  of  more  advanced  age, 
solely  to  make  up  the  teacher's  salary,  rendering  direct 
and  frequent  communication  between  the  teacher  and  the 
child,  that  essential  in  education,  wholly  impossible. 

Newcastle  Commission  Reports 

The  activities  of  the  Newcastle  Commission  had  as  their 
chief  result  the  accumulation  of  a  vast  mass  of  interesting 
information.  An  excellent  precis  of  their  recommendations 
has  been  made  by  the  Right  Hon.  T.  J.  Macnamara  in  the 
following  words: 

I.  That  all  assistance  given  to  the  annual  maintenance  of  schools 
should  be  simplified  and  reduced  to  grants  of  two  kinds.  The 
first  of  these  grants  should  be  paid  out  of  the  general  taxation  of 
the  country,  in  consideration  of  the  fulfilment  of  certain  conditions 
by  the  managers  of  the  schools.  Compliance  with  these  con- 
ditions was  to  be  ascertained  by  the  inspectors.  The  second  was 
to  be  paid  out  of  the  county  rates,  in  consideration  of  the  attainment 

361 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

of  a  certain  degree  of  knowledge  by  the  children  in  the  school 
during  the  year  preceding  the  payment.  The  existence  of  this 
degree  of  knowledge  would  be  ascertained  by  examiners  appointed 
by  county  and  borough  boards  of  education.  .  .  . 

2.  That  no  school  should  be  entitled  to  these  grants  which 
did  not  fulfil  the  following  general  conditions  :  The  school  would 
have  to  be  registered  at  the  office  of  the  Privy  Council,  on  the 
report  of  the  inspector,  as  an  elementary  school  for  the  education 
of  the  poor  ;  the  school  would  have  to  be  certified  by  the  inspector 
to  be  healthy  and  properly  drained  and  ventilated  and  supplied 
with  offices  ;  and  the  principal  schoolroom  must  contain  at  least 
eight  square  feet  of  superficial  area  for  each  child  in  average  daily 
attendance.^ 

Of  these  proposals  those  which  related  to  local  rate  aid 
were  not  given  effect  to;  those  which  made  State  contri- 
butions dependent  on  results  were  adopted  and  proved  the 
guiding  principle  of  the  so-called  Revised  Code,  which  was 
described  by  its  parent,  Mr  Lowe,  as  a  code  that  would 
secure  either  economy  or  efficiency.  "  If  it  is  not  efficient 
it  shall  be  cheap ;  and  if  it  is  not  cheap  it  shall  be  efficient." 
Which  end  was  secured  appeared  to  be  a  matter  of  the 
utmost  indifference. 

The  Act  of   1870 

So  far  it  will  be  seen  that  the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill 

had  done  little  for  education.     But  in  this  and  in  other 

matters  of  social  reform  it  must  be  remembered,  to  employ 

the  expression  used  by  Mr  Binns, 

that  the  House  of  Commons  was  still  elected  by  a  very  small 
proportion  of  the  adult  population  ;  even  after  the  Reform 
[Bill]  of  1832  only  one  adult  male  in  seven  possessed  the 
suffrage.  It  was  not  until  1867  that  any  popular  election 
became  possible,  and  the  new  national  education  policy  dates 
from  this   time.^  • 

The  Newcastle  Commission  had  had  an  opportunity 
of  considering  the  truth  of  the  oft-repeated  view  that  not 

^  See  his  appendix  to  Mr  Binns'  A  Century  of  Education. 
2  H.  B.  Binns,  A  Century  of  Education. 

362 


THE    MENTAL    HORIZON 

only  did  the  common  people  not  press  for  education,  but 
they  were  positively  antagonistic  toward  it.  They  established 
the  fact  that  tens  of  thousands  of  poor  and  illiterate  parents 
were  only  too  anxious  to  give  their  children  advantages 
which  they  themselves  had  been  denied.  We  have  re- 
corded for  us  cases  where  parents,  frequently  the  mother, 
had  toiled  and  scrimped  and  saved  to  find  the  few  pence 
necessary  to  educate  the  children ;  of  sweated  labour  still 
more  sweated  in  order  that  the  rising  generation  should 
escape  the  miseries  the  parents  had  suffered.  This  attitude 
was  consonant  with  what  we  know  of  human  nature,  its 
boundless  capacity  for  sacrifice  in  a  cause  dear  to  it.  It 
was  also  according  to  human  nature  that  parents,  often 
needy  and  usually  hard-working,  should  not  be  anxious 
to  pay  for  instruction  for  their  children  that  was  education 
only  in  name.  Much  of  the  opposition  that  was  discovered 
was  found  on  inquiry  to  be  opposition  not  to  education 
in  general,  but  to  the  kind  of  education  then  being  given: 
the  herding  in  small  schoolrooms ;  the  control  of  illiterate 
schoolmasters ;  the  withdrawing  of  children  from  employ- 
ment in  order  that  they  might  simply  waste  their  time. 
Time  after  time  witnesses  declared  that  such  opposition  as 
existed  was  directed  to  the  manner  and  not  to  the  principle 
of  education. 

With  the  passing  of  the  Ballot  Act  and  the  prospective 
increase  of  the  franchise,  it  became  more  and  more  apparent 
that  the  adequate  instruction  of  the  people  was  a  national 
necessity.  Roebuck's  vision  in  1833  had  been  beyond 
the  range  of  most  men,  but  now  the  nearest-sighted  could 
see  that  the  masses  were  marching  to  power.  The  question 
only  remained  whether  the  power  was  to  be  in  the  hands 
of  a  semi-illiterate  multitude  who  would  fall  victims  to  the 
demagogue  and  the  inspirer  of  class  passion,  or  of  an 
educated  people  capable  of  exercising  a  balanced  judgment. 
The  proposals  which  had  been  spurned  in  1833  now  became 
obviously  right. 

By  the  Act  of  1870  the  voluntary  system  was  in  effect 
abandoned,  though  it   continued   in   operation   for   many 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

years  thereafter.  For  the  first  time  the  cost  of  education 
was  placed  to  some  extent  on  the  shoulders  of  the  rate- 
payer, and  as  a  result,  as  Brougham  had  foretold,  the  ability 
of  the  voluntary  associations  to  secure  their  subscriptions 
gradually  declined.  The  Education  Act  of  Forster 
supplemented  the  voluntary  system  by  erecting  local 
school  boards  which  were  empowered,  if  they  thought 
fit,  to  build  board  schools  which  could  secure  an  income 
partly  from  the  State  and  partly  from  the  local  rates.  For 
rate  aid  to  be  secured  it  was  necessary  that  there  should 
be  local  control  and  no  religious  teaching  which  involved 
the  teaching  of  a  religious  catechism  or  religious  formulary 
distinctive  of  any  particular  denomination. 

In  the  words  of  the  Right  Hon.  T.  J.  Macnamara : 

The  two  systems,  the  old  and  the  new,  grew  apace  together. 
New  denominational  schools  sprang  up  under  the  Act  of  1870 — in 
thirty-five  years  the  Church  school  enrolment  rose  from  1,173,345 
to  2,305,949  ;  the  Roman  Catholic  from  74,122  to  339,554  ; 
and  the  new  board  schools  began  to  cover  the  more  neglected  part 
of  the  educational  field.^ 

The  Modern  Phase 

From  now  onward  education  began  to  extend  both  in 
scope  and  in  direction.  The  University  ceased  to  be  an 
institution  which  lay  entirely  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
masses.  The  University  Extension  movement,  which 
may,  perhaps,  be  traced  back  to  the  extra-mural  lectures 
which  were  delivered  in  1847,  was  given  the  impetus  which 
firmly  established  it  by  the  discussions  which  raged  around 
education  at  the  time  of  the  introduction  and  passing  of 
the  Education  Act,  1870.  The  new  courses  of  lectures 
intended  for  adults  which  were  begun  in  Liverpool  in  1870 
and  attained  great  popularity  in  the  Midlands  in  the  .year 
following  were  at  length  given  official  recognition  by  the 
University  of  Cambridge  in  1873.  From  that  date  the 
University  Extension  movement  may  be  said  to  have  been 

1  Op.  cit. 
364 


THE    MENTAL    HORIZON 

founded.  It  has  since  been  supported  by  the  other  principal 
universities,  and  now  occupies  a  not  inconsiderable  place 
in  the  formation  of  opinion  and  the  development  of  culture 
in  this  country. 

The  University  Extension  movement  hardly  belongs, 
however,  to  the  masses.  It  is  primarily  middle  class.  The 
working  man  has  been  approached  rather  by  means  of 
special  institutions  such  as  the  Working  Men's  College, 
founded  in  1 854  by  Frederick  Denison  Maurice.  Further, 
a  great  impulse  was  given  to  popular  technical  education, 
using  the  term  *  technical  '  in  the  widest  sense,  by  the 
passing  of  the  Technical  Instruction  Act,  1889,  which 
gave  effect  to  the  recommendations  of  the  Royal  Com- 
mission on  Technical  Instruction  (1880-1884),  Despite 
these  advances,  however,  both  adult  and  secondary  educa- 
tion were  shown  to  leave  very  much  to  be  desired  at  the 
time  of  the  sitting  of  the  Bryce  Commission  of  1 8  95. 

As  yet  there  was  no  coherent  and  comprehensive 
organization  in  existence.  The  central  authority  was  in 
the  hands  of  widely  different  and  somewhat  antagonistic 
bodies.  The  child,  however  able,  who  commenced  his 
education  in  the  elementary  school  had  no  clear  road 
before  him.  There  were  serious  breaks  in  the  chain. 
The  secondary  system  could  not  be  regarded  as  a  link 
between  the  elementary  school  and  the  University ._  The 
masses  in  general  might,  perhaps,  be  regarded  as  literate, 
but  could  not  be  considered  as  educated.  From  1891 
it  may  be  said  that  free  education  was  universal  except 
among  the  upper  classes,  that  the  curricula  of  the  free 
schools  tended  to  expand,  and  that  some  facilities  were  now 
in  existence  for  acquiring  technical  instruction,  and  that, 
largely  as  a  result  of  voluntary  effort,  many  and  valuable 
lectures  were  being  given  up  and  down  the  country  on 
subjects  suitable  for  the  instruction  of  adults.  ^ 

By  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century  a  central  authority 
had  been  formed.  The  Board  of  Education  had  replaced 
the  Education  Department,  the  Science  and  Art  Depart- 
ment, and  the  Education  branch  of  the  Charity  Commission. 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Three  years  later,  by  the  Act  of  1 902,  a  national  system  was 
developed  capable  of  wide  expansion.  As  a  result  the 
voluntary  system,  which  had  struggled  on  after  the  passing 
of  the  Act  of  1870,  became,  contrary  to  the  intention  of 
the  framers  of  the  Act,  practically  dead.  An  elaborate 
universal  free  system  had  taken  the  field.  The  subsequent 
years,  up  to  the  passing  of  the  Act  of  191 8,  are  not  notice- 
able for  the  passing  of  any  measures  of  major  importance. 
Such  Acts  as  the  Education  (Provision  of  Meals)  Act,  1 906, 
bear  witness  to  a  spirit  very  different  from  that  which  had 
inspired  the  legislature  one  century  before,  when  an  Educa- 
tion Bill  had  been  thrown  out  of  the  Commons  because  it 
was  feared  that  to  teach  the  '  lower  orders  *  how  to  read 
was  to  invite  revolution.  What  will  be  the  effect  of  Mr 
Fisher's  admirably  conceived  Education  Act  remains  still 
to  be  seen.  At  no  time  in  our  history  did  we  require  more 
absolutely  a  well-informed  and  instructed  people.  At 
present,  however,  one  feels  that  Britain  is  but  on  the 
threshold  of  popular  education.  Much  spade-work  has 
been  done,  but  the  harvest  has  yet  to  be  gathered. 
In  the  words  of  Professor  Adamson  : 

The  years  between  1870  and  1903  witnessed  a  development  of 
English  public  instruction  which  has  no  equal  in  our  history  ;  it 
affected  education  of  all  grades  and  was  particularly,  though  not 
exclusively,  marked  in  the  sphere  of  administration.  When  the 
twentieth  century  opened,  the  country  possessed  apparatus  of  a 
complete  national  system  administered  by  local  and  central  authori- 
ties, with  the  Minister  of  State  at  the  head,  who  in  fact,  though  not 
in  name,  held  powers  approximating  to  those  of  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction  in  foreign  governments.  The  legislation  of  1902-3 
which  founded  that  system  is,  however,  not  a  goal  but  a  starting- 
point.  The  machinery  is  there  ;  the  country  has  yet  to  decide  for 
exactly  what  purposes  and  how  best  the  machinery  shall  be  em- 
ployed ;  as  witness  the  Act  of  19 18.  The  nation's  failures  and 
successes  in  the  field  of  education  have  been  made  manifest  ift  the 
course  of  the  Great  War.  With  those  lessons  to  instruct  policy, 
and  machinery  at  hand  to  give  it  effect,  the  greatest  chapter  in  the 
history  of  British  education  lies  in  the  future.^ 

^  A  Short  History  of  Education. 

366 


CHAPTER  XV 
THE    ATTACK    UPON    POVERTY 

THE  primitive  condition  of  mankind  is  one  of 
poverty,  ignorance,  and  helpless  subjection  to  the 
forces  of  nature.  The  history  of  civilisation 
narrates  the  steps  by  which  man,  in  part  at  any  rate,  has 
emerged  from  this  original  state  of  disability.  Man  is  not 
naturally  rich,  nor  wise,  nor  free.  Wealth,  knowledge, 
and  liberty  are  the  gifts  of  civiHsation.  Personal  liberty, 
the  institution  of  property,  the  right  of  exchange,  and  the 
enlargement  of  the  intellectual  horizon^  which  security 
creates,  are  the  elements  out  of  which,  in  the  course  of 
history,  civilisation  has  proceeded." 

With  these  words  Thomas  Mackay  commences  the 
final  volume  of  the  History  of  the  English  Poor  Law 
begun  by  Sir  George  Nicholls.  The  words  are  apt  to 
introduce  a  consideration  of  the  attempts  which  modern 
governments  have  made  in  their  assault  upon  the  citadel 
of  poverty,  for  they  seem  to  explain  why  for  so  many  years 
poverty  was  looked  upon  as  an  inevitable  concomitant  of 
our  present  mode  of  Hfe,  and  as  constituting  the  natural 
penalty  which  nature  inflicts  upon  the  failures,  the  ignorant, 
and  the  helpless. 

For  centuries,  as  we  have  seen,  after  poverty  became  a 
vital  factor  in  the  national  life  of  Europe,  the  Poor  Law 
palliative  was  applied  in  a  m.anner  destined  inevitably  to 
prostrate  still  more  absolutely  those  who  were  driven  to 
receive  this  charity  of  the  State.  Even  in  the  early  nine- 
teenth century  both  French  observers  and  our  own  minister. 
Canning,  looked  upon  the  Poor  Law  rather  as  a  preventive 
of  revolution,  as  a  kind  of  insurance  scheme  against 
national  upheaval,  than  as  a  method  of  saving  human  beings 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  . 

from  the  consequences  of  failure  inducing  want  and  often  ' 
resulting  from  fortuitous  circumstances  beyond  their  own 
control. 

The  Old  Order 

At  the  time  of  the  Poor  Law  Amendment  Act,  1834, 
a  vacillating  system  which  oscillated  between  the  extreme 
repulsion  of  the  poor  and  the  extreme  attraction  of  the  i 
destitute  had  created  a  Poor  Law  administration  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  threatened  to  destroy  the  moral  fibre 
of  the  people.  It  has  been  well  said  that  the  Georgian  j 
poor  laws  had  succeeded  in  many  districts  in  giving  to 
the  labourer  and  his  family  the  security  of  servitude.  But 
the  age  was  long  past  in  which  a  free  people  was  prepared 
readily  to  see  the  country  relapse  into  that  hierarchy  of 
varying  status  from  which  it  had  emerged  three  centuries 
before.  A  law  which  confined  the  labourer  to  his  parish, 
dictated  who  should  be  his  master,  and  awarded  wages 
not  in  accordance  with  services,  but  in  accordance  with 
wants,  was  manifestly  incapable  of  living  in  the  freer  air 
introduced  by  the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill. 

As  Mr  Senior  has  said:  "  Before  the  Poor  Law  Amend- 
ment Act,  nothing  but  the  power  of  arbitrary  punishment 
was  wanting  in  the  pauperised  parishes  to  a  complete 
system  of  praedial  slavery."  ^  This,  perhaps,  is  an 
exaggeration,  for  though  in  theory  the  labourer  was  tied 
to  the  land  almost  as  securely  as  in  the  days  of  serfdom, 
in  practice  he  did  migrate  in  his  thousands  and  hundreds 
of  thousands  to  other  districts  and  to  other  employ- 
ments. But  in  so  far  as  the  State  could  act  it  did  act  in 
the  sense  described  and  in  the  direction  of  the  deliberate 
pauperization  of  the  labouring  classes  of  the  country. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  appears  to  be  clear.  Up  to 
the  Act  of  1834  the  Government  of  the  country  wa^  not 
interested  in  the  poor.  It  occasionally  had  cause  to  fear 
the  destitute,  it  sometimes  found  it  necessary  to  placate 
them.      Its  attitude  was  that  of  the  timid  man  to  the  tramp 

1  Historical  and  Philosophical  Essays. 

368 


THE  ATTACK  UPON  POVERTY 

on  a  lonely  country  road.  It  flung  a  pittance  to  a  threaten- 
ing mob  which  it  would  cheerfully  have  eliminated  had  it 
known  how  to  effect  so  desirable  a  result.  With  the 
coming  of  the  franchise  the  sentiments  of  the  Government 
were  changed,  though  at  first  not  sharply.  The  earlier 
electorate  represented  the  middle  rather  than  the  working 
classes.  The  pauper  still  remained  a  bogy;  but  the  poor 
rate  had  to  be  reduced.  In  course  of  time,  and  with 
successive  broadenings  of  the  elective  basis,  the  poor  have 
been  regarded  in  a  more  and  more  favourable  light,  until 
in  the  closing  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  principle 
I  began  to  be  accepted  that  one  of  the  most  important  of 
the  duties  of  government  consisted  in  the  prevention  of 
[destitution. 

Poor  Law  Reform 

The  aims  of  the  Poor  Law  Commissioners  of  1834  were, 
however,  strictly  limited  to  reforms  of  the  Poor  Law 
system.  Their  main  purpose  appears  to  have  been  the 
separation  of  the  problem  presented  by  the  able-bodied 
but  destitute  person  from  that  created  by  the  orphan,  the 
sick,  the  insane,  and  the  aged,  and  the  abolition  of  the 
evils  consequent  upon  the  existence  of  mixed  workhouses, 
full  of  all  manner  of  persons,  some  mad,  some  infantile, 
some  senile,  some  honest  but  unfortunate,  others  dishonest 
and  debauched.  The  Speenhamland  system  was  definitely 
departed  from,  and  outdoor  relief  was  based  on  a  new 
principle. 

These  aims  have  not  been  attained  completely.  The 
mixed  workhouse  still  exists.  As  the  minority  report  of 
the  Poor  Law  Commission,  1905-9,  points  out: 

Of  the  50,000  children  who  are  in  Poor  Law  Institutions  in 
England  and  Wales,  there  are  still  15,000  living  actually  inside 
General  Mixed  Workhouses.  We  found  that  in  Scotland,  where 
it  is  commonly  assumed  that  the  Poor  Law  children  are  either 
boarded  out  or  maintained  upon  Outdoor  Relief,  there  were  1845 
children  in  the  General  Mixed  Workhouses,  or  not  far  short  of 
as  many  in  proportion  to  population  as  in  England  itself.     In 

2  A  369 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Ireland,  out  of  9000  children  maintained  in  Poor  Law  Institutions, 
no  fewer  than  8000  are  in  the  General  Mixed  Workhouses,  where 
their  condition  is  worse  in  that  they  do  not  even  go  out  to  the 
public  elementary  day  school,  but  are  taught  in  the  workhouse 
premises.  Nor  is  it  otherwise  with  the  sick  and  the  aged.  Of  the 
uncounted  host  of  inmates  of  Poor  Law  Institutions  who  are  so 
sick  or  infirm  as  to  need  nursing  or  medical  attendance — estimated 
[in  1909]  to  number  in  the  United  Kingdom  at  least  130,000 — 
more  than  two-thirds  are  in  General  Mixed  Workhouses.  Of  the 
140,000  persons  over  sixty  in  Poor  Law  Institutions,  only  a 
thousand  or  two  in  England  and  Scotland,  and  none  at  all  in  Ireland, 
are  in  the  separate  establishments  recommended  by  the  Report  of 
1834,  where  "the  old  might  enjoy  their  indulgences  without 
torment  from  the  boisterous." 

The  responsibility  for  this  result,  a  result  deplorable 
from  many  social  aspects,  was  due  primarily  to  the  attitude 
adopted  by  the  majority  of  the  local  authorities,  who  ignored 
the  recommendations  of  the  Commissioners  of  1834,  the 
representations  of  successive  Local  Government  Boards, 
and  the  general  trend  of  Poor  Law  legislation.  They 
had  the  power,  and,  in  the  interest  of  the  ratepayers,  they  I 
not  unnaturally  exercised  that  power  with  a  close  regard  to 
cost.     As  the  minority  report  above  quoted  states  : 

To  the  Boards  of  Guardians  of  1835,  as  to  their  successors 
in  many  a  subsequent  decade,  it  seemed  a  wanton  waste  of 
money  to  maintain  a  series  of  separate  small  institutions,  all 
having  vacant  places  Within  a  few  months  we  see  the  at- 
tempts given  up,  and  all  the  classes  of  poor  huddled  into  a  single 
building. 

As  regards  outdoor  relief,  the  Report  of  1834  most 
sharply  distinguished  between  the  case  of  the  able-bodied 
and  the  non-able-bodied.  In  respect  of  the  former  class 
it  was  recommended  that  outdoor  relief  should  cease,  and 
although  the  cessation  was  not  effected  immediately,  the 
tendency  has  been  steadily  to  restrict  the  amount  of  assist- 
ance thus  given  to  the  able-bodied,  until  by  the  end  of  the 
nineteenth  century  it  might  be  said  that  such  relief  had 
ceased  to  exist. 


I 


THE  ATTACK  UPON  POVERTY 

The  non-able-bodied,  however,  called  for  different 
treatment. 

[The  ancient]  system  of  granting  doles  and  allowances  to  the 
non-able-bodied  poor,  accepted  by  the  Royal  Commission  of  1834, 
has  never  been  prohibited  by  the  Local  Government  Board,  and 
has  accordingly  continued  with  its  authority  down  to  the  present 
day  [1909].  The  sum  thus  distributed  is  now  very  large,  approach- 
ing in  the  United  Kingdom  no  less  than  ;^4,ooo,ooo  sterHng 
annually.  It  has  during  the  past  fifteen  years  greatly  increased, 
and  it  is  at  present,  taking  the  whole  United  Kingdom,  probably 
greater  than  at  any  time  since  1 834.  More  than  two-thirds  of  the 
whole  of  the  paupers  are,  in  fact,  in  receipt  of  Outdoor  Relief.^ 

This  system  developed,  however,  not  so  much  as  the 
result  of  a  coherent  centralized  scheme  as  in  conse- 
quence of  the  activities  of  the  local  Boards  of  Guardians. 
It  was  to  the  local  authority  that  the  poor  had  to  look, 
and  various  local  authorities  had  varying  standards.  In 
some  districts  outdoor  relief  ceased  to  be  offered  almost 
as  completely  to  the  non-able-bodied  as  to  the  able-bodied 
poor.  In  such  districts  the  only  relief  was  the  workhouse — 
usually  a  mixed  workhouse. 

Such  was,  in  broadest  outline,  the  condition  of  Poor  Law 
relief  at  the  time  when  the  Poor  Law  Commissioners 
commenced,  in  1905,  their  gigantic  task  of  inquiring  into 
all  aspects  of  the  Poor  Law  question. 

As  a  result  of  their  four  years'  labour,  a  most  valuable 
series  of  reports  was  issued,  some  differing  largely  from 
others,  but  all  unanimously  in  favour  of  a  radical  change 
in  the  whole  system.  The  principles  of  1834  were  now 
jettisoned  en  masse  \  an  effort  was  at  last  made  to  construct 
a  system  which  should  be  human  and  humane. 

The  New  System 

A  new  impulse  was  now  given  to  various  movements 
which  had  already  gathered  considerable  momentum,  and 
which  were  concerned  with  the  elimination  of  fortuitous 
destitution.     Of  these   movements    that   concerned   with 

1  Minority  Report,  cited. 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

the  avoidance  of  poverty  due  to  loss  of  wage-earning 
capacity  as  a  consequence  of  accident  was  at  once  the 
earliest  in  date  and  the  most  universally  adopted.  In  this 
department  of  social  science  Germany  first  invented  the 
system  of  compulsory  insurance  which  has  since  won 
world-wide  approval. 

The  German  Accident  Law 

The  German  Accident  Law,  which  commenced  in  1884*. 
was  based  on  the  fact  that  modern  conditions  of  labour 
involve  of  necessity  a  high  accident  rate,  and  such  circum- 
stances are  not  met  by  a  law,  built  up  to  meet  different 
circumstances,  which  gives  the  injured  worker  a  claim 
to  damages  only  in  cases  where  the  person  injured  can 
estabhsh  that  the  employer  was  himself  at  fault. 

The  German  Imperial  Liability  Law  of  1871  continued 
to  recognize  the  principle  that  an  employer's  liability  must 
depend  on  the  presence  of  fault  in  him,  but  the  Law  of  1884 
was  inspired  by  the  following  quite  different  principles :  ^ 

1.  Proceeding  from  the  assumption  that  he  who  creates  an 
•  enterprise,'  that  peculiar  structure  of  human  beings,  things,  and 
forces,  and  induces  human  beings  to  labour  among  arms  of  steel 
moving  at  uncanny  speeds,  establishes  a  source  of  danger  and 
becomes  responsible  for  damage  resulting  from  this  source.  Under 
this  theory  employer's  fault  need  not  be  proven.  The  fact  that 
injury  has  been  caused  establishes  a  right  to  compensation. 

2.  Convinced  that  in  many  cases  the  resources  of  the  individual 
employer  w^ould  not  prove  equal  to  the  enormously  increased 
liability,  and  that,  therefore,  the  existence  of  the  employer  as  well 
as  the  compensation  of  the  injured  worker  would  be  jeopardized, 
individual  responsibility  was  eliminated,  and  in  its  stead  was  placed 
the  collective  responsibility  of  the  industry. 

3.  To  carry  out  this  idea  large  industries,  as  well  as  agriculture, 
commerce,  and  crafts,  or  small  industries,  were  organized  into 
employers'  associations  grouped  according  to  callings.  That  is, 
legally   incorporated   self-governing   bodies   were   formed,   which 

1  We  quote  from  a  translation  of  an  official  memorandum  which  appears 
in  Messrs  Schwedtman  and  Emery's  Accident  Prevention  and  Relief. 


THE  ATTACK  UPON  POVERTY 

every  employer  was  compelled  by  law  to  join.  Upon  these  organi- 
zations was  placed  the  responsibility  of  carrying  and  administering 
the  accident  compensation  system,  and  to  this  end  they  were 
invested  with  far-reaching  legal  powers.  ^ 

4.  Accident  prevention,  being  of  greater  importance  and 
larger  social  value  than  compensation,  was  also  placed  in  the  hands 
of  these  employers'  associations,  with  the  necessary  legal  authority 
for  enforcement  of  rules. 

The  principle  of  compulsory  insurance  thus  commenced 
las  tended  somewhat  to  extend  at  the  expense  of  the 
apposing  system  of  optional  insurance  which  for  many 
years  was  the  characteristic  of  the  English  compensation 
jsystem.  In  1908  Sig.  Luzatti,  on  behalf  of  Italy,  and 
M  Millerand,  representing  France,  signified  their  acceptance 
of  the  compulsory  principle,  which  was  also  recommended 
by  the  Committee  on  Workmen's  Compensation  which  sat 

'in  London  in  1920.  1  r  1    j   •        00 

But  the  grand  principle  that  was  established  in  18  84, 
and  which  has  since  been  adopted  by  every  civihzed 
country,  was  that  the  worker  should  be  compensated 
almost  automatically  for  the  loss  he  had  suffered  through 
being  injured  while  at  work.  That  principle  is  of  immense 
importance;  the  particular  machinery  for  giving  effect  to 
it  is  comparatively  unimportant. 

The  English  System 

]  In  England  the  question  of  workmen's  protection  and 
compensation  was  under  discussion  long  before  the  German 

'  Accident  Law  was  passed.  Thanks  largely  however,  to 
trade  union  activity,  the  Enghsh,  by  pursuing  the  impossible 
ideal  of  the  prevention  of  accident,  failed  to  solve  the  simpler 
problem  of  the  prevention  of  destitution  due  to  accident. 
It  was  not  until  1897  that  a  measure  was  passed  to  com- 
pensate those  whom  Joseph  Chamberlain  referred  to  as 
♦'the  wounded  soldiers  of  industry";  it  was  not  until 
1906  that  the  principle  underlying  the  German  Accident 
Law  was  definitely  appropriated  by  Mr  Asquith,  who  said 
when  introducing  the  well-known  measure  of  that  year: 

373 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

"Where  a  person, on  his  own  responsibiUtyand  for  his  own 
profit,  sets  in  motion  agencies  which  create  risk  for  others, 
he  should  be  civilly  responsible  for  the  consequences  of 
what  he  does."  Unlike  Germany,  however,  England  has 
hitherto  consistently  refused  to  require  compulsory  in- 
surance as  distinct  from  compulsory  compensation.  As 
we  have  seen,  recent  recommendations  tend  toward  the 
German  system. 

The  first  proposals  which  were  made  in  England  to 
protect  the  injured  worker  were  conceived  in  the  spirit 
of  the  factory  legislation — that  is  to  say,  it  was  sought  to 
protect  the  employee  by  penalizing  the  employer.  Thus 
in  1846  the  Select  Committee  on  Railway  Labourers 
supported  the  proposal  to  impose  upon  railway  com- 
panies the  obligation  to  compensate  their  employees  who 
had  been  injured,  by  pointing  out  that  by  so  doing  the  loss 
would  fall  upon  those  who  could  best  prevent  the  injury. 
The  same  attitude  was  adopted  at  the  Trade  Union  Con- 
gress of  1877,  when  Thomas  Halliday,  the  miners'  leader, 
opposed  a  proposal  to  press  for  compensation  on  the  ground 
that  prevention  and  not  compensation  was  wanted,  and  that 
the  best  way  to  secure  this  was  to  make  the  employer 
responsible.  The  idea  that  the  making  of  the  employer 
responsible  was  the  best  way  to  prevent  accidents  was 
in  later  years  the  basis  of  much  of  the  opposition  to 
any  form  of  accident  insurance,  which  it  was  realized 
would  result  in  shifting  the  liability  on  to  insurance 
associations. 

In  truth,  however,  the  responsibility  of  the  employer 
under  the  law  as  it  stood  in  the  first  seven  decades  of  the 
nineteenth  century  was  small  enough. 

Under  the  common  law  of  England,  as  developed  by  the 
Courts  in  the  nineteenth  century,  a  workman  impliedly 
ran  the  risks  of  his  employment,  and  the  negligence  of  a 
fellow-servant,  or  even  of  a  foreman  or  supervisor,  was 
deemed  to  be  one  of  those  risks.  The  master  was  liable 
for  personal  negligence,  but,  apart  from  that,  a  workman  who 
suffered  injury  in  the  course  of  his  work  found  himself  in 

374 


THE  ATTACK  UPON  POVERTY 

the  generality  of  cases  without  a  remedy  against  anyone. 
He  was  left  with  diminished  earning  powers  to  fight  the 
battle  of  life  unaided.  The  harshness  of  the  old  common 
law  was  somewhat  mitigated  by  the  passing  of  the 
Employers'  Liability  Act  of  1880,  but  under  that  Act  the 
workman  could  only  recover  damages  and  could  recover 
damages  only  in  certain  circumstances. 

The  fact  that  damages  and  not  compensation  was  re- 
coverable marks  the  main  distinction  in  principle  between 
the  Act  of  1880  and  the  Act  of  1897.  Damages  connote 
the  commission  of  an  actionable  wrong;  compensation  is 
payable  where  an  accident  has  befallen  even  though  no  one 
is  at  fault.  In  the  vast  majority  of  cases  the  happening 
which  injures  the  workman  is  a  mere  mishap,  is  no  wrong, 
and  consequently  was  not  provided  for  in  the  earlier  legisla- 
tion. Further,  under  the  Act  of  1880  the  workman  and 
his  employer  could  '  contract  out ' — that  is  to  say,  could 
agree  that  the  Act  should  not  apply.  For  many  years 
the  trade  unions  endeavoured  to  secure  the  repeal  of  the 
section  which  permitted  contracting  out,  and  this  and  other 
flaws  were  sought  to  be  removed  by  Mr  Asquith's  Em- 
ployers' Liability  Bill  of  1893,  which  was  eventually  lost 
through  the  insertion  of  unacceptable  amendments  by  the 
House  of  Lords. 

Workmen's  Compensation 

A  bolder  course  was  pursued  four  years  later,  for  as  Lord 
Brampton  said: 

It  was  felt  by  the  Legislature  that  it  would  be  but  just  and  right 
to  confer  upon  a  large  class  of  workmen,  whose  necessities  com- 
pelled them  to  seek  employment  in  certain  specified  dangerous 
occupations,  in  the  course  of  which  accidents,  not  always  possible 
to  be  guarded  against,  are  of  frequent  occurrence,  some  purely 
casual,  others,  no  doubt,  attributable  to  negligence  or  default  of 
fellow  workmen  whom  it  would  be  idle  to  sue,  or  others  whose 
■  identity  could  not  be  established,  a  right  to  claim  compensation  to  a 
moderate  or  limited  amount  in  respect  of  the  loss  of  such  wages  as 
they  were  incapacitated  from  earning  in  consequence  of  accidental 

375 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

injury,  upon  mere  proof  of  the  accident  and  its  resulting  loss, 
irrespective  of  its  cause. 

Another  object  was  to  impose  the  obligation  of  providing  such 
statutory  compensation  upon  those  to  whom  good  sense  would 
naturally  point  as  the  fittest  persons  to  bear  it,  and  to  define  for  the 
convenience  of  injured  workmen  seeking  compensation  the  persons 
from  whom  they  are  entitled  to  claim  it,  and,  further,  to  provide 
a  simple  proceeding,  entailing  comparatively  trifling  expense,  by 
which  such  compensation  might,  if  necessary,  be  enforced.  To 
carry  out  these  very  laudable  objects  the  Act  of  1897  was  passed. 

At  first,  however,  the  principle  of  compensation  was 
applied  only  to  certain  dangerous  trades  or  to  work  in 
buildings  exceeding  a  certain  height.  Industrial  disease 
was  not  a  subject  for  compensation.  The  scope  of  the 
Act  was  widened  in  1900  to  include  agricultural  workers, 
but  in  1906  a  Workmen's  Compensation  Act  was  passed 
extending  the  protection  hitherto  afforded  to  special  classes 
of  employed  persons  to  practically  every  kind  of  manual 
worker  and  to  non-manual  workers,  whose  income  did  not 
exceed  a  certain  maximum. 

In  the  words  of  the  Committee  appointed  in  19 19  to 
inquire  into  the  working  of  the  system  thus  inaugurated : 

The  new  Act  abandoned  the  principle  of  excluding  all  work- 
men not  expressly  included,  in  favour  of  the  plan  of  extending  the 
Act  to  all  employments  with  some  few  specified  exceptions  ;  and 
industrial  diseases  were  brought  within  its  scope. 

Benefits  were  unaltered,  but  certain  technical  improve- 
ments were  effected  in  the  machinery  of  the  Act,  and  it  is 
the  system  thus  established  that  has  formed  the  pattern 
which  other  countries  have  in  many  cases  followed. 

The  Act  of  1906  was  not  concerned  with  the  prevention 
of  accidents.  The  prevention  of  accidents  remained  as 
it  had  been  for  more  than  half  a  century  the  care  of.  the 
Home  Office,  and  the  subject  of  numerous  Factory  and 
Mines  Regulation  Acts.  The  Workmen's  Compensation 
Act  concentrated  upon  securing  to  the  injured  man  and 
his   family   a   limited   weekly   support   depending   on   his 


THE  ATTACK  UPON  POVERTY 

earnings  and  turning  on  the  principle  that  in  case  of  mishap 
employed  and  employer  should  share  equally  the  pecuniary 
loss  resulting;  in  the  case  of  death  the  dependents  were 
to  receive  a  certain  sum  of  money  calculated  in  certain 
cases  upon  the  earnings  of  the  deceased  and  never  exceeding 
the  maximum  of  ;/^300. 

Henceforward  all  employed  persons,  with  certain 
insignificant  exceptions,  the  most  important  of  which  were 
share  fishermen  and  non-manual  workers  receiving  more 
than  £2^0  a  year,  who  were  injured  by  an  accident  arising 
out  of  and  in  the  course  of  their  employment,  or  who  con- 
tracted certain  specified  diseases  as  a  result  of  their  employ- 
ment, were,  or  in  the  case  of  death  their  dependents  were, 
entitled  to  compensation.  Since  the  Act  has  been  in 
operation  tens  of  thousands  of  persons  who  in  the  Middle 
Ages  would  have  become  beggars  or  vagabonds,  and  who 
in  the  era  of  the  Poor  Law  would  have  sunk  into  permanent 
pauperism,  have  been  enabled  to  tide  over  misfortune  and 
to  return  once  more  to  their  former  occupations  without 
having  to  suffer  the  destruction  of  their  homes  due  to  a 
casualty. 

Social  Gains 

Experience  has  shown  that  the  good  thus  obtained  did 
not  result  in  any  heavy  charge  upon  industry.  Under  the 
proposals  made  by  the  Committee  on  Workmen's  Com- 
pensation in  1920  the  benefits  to  be  paid  were  very  sensibly 
increased,  indeed  were  more  than  doubled,  but  it  was 
calculated  that  in  the  case  of  the  coal  trade  such  increase 
would  not  cause  the  price  of  coal  to  rise  by  more  than 
twopence  a  ton.  In  fact,  of  course,  the  risk  of  loss  by 
accident  has  been  shifted  to  insurance  associations,  the 
employer's  liability  being  measured  by  the  premiums 
that  he  pays — a  liability  which  varies  trade  by  trade  and 
according  to  the  number  of  accidents  suffered  in  any 
particular  mill  or  factory.  There  has  been  little  or  no 
evidence  to  show,  however,  that  the  care  for  safety  has 
cither  increased  or  decreased  as  a  result. 

377 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR  j 

When  we  consider  the  insurance  figures  we  see  at  once 
what  a  mighty  weight  has  been  removed  from  the  working 
population  by  the  passing  of  these  Acts.  In  the  eieht 
years  1911-1918  no  less  a  sum  than  ^14,586,207  was  paid 
out  by  msurance  offices  alone  under  workmen's  compensa- 
tion policies.  If  to  this  formidable  sum  we  add  the  amount 
paid  by  mutual  insurance  societies  and  by  uninsured 
employers,  we  obtain  the  measure  of  the  loss  from  which 
the  working  classes  have  been  saved  in  only  eight  years 
in  the  United  Kingdom  alone. 

The  merit  of  this  new  movement  is   so  obvious  that 
it  is  believed,  it  has  been  adopted  in  every  civilized  country 
in  the  world  in  some  form  or  other.     The  two   patterns 
have  been  the  German  system  of  compulsory  compensation 
and  insurance  on  the  one  hand  and  the  British  system  of 
compulsory  compensation  and  optional  insurance  on  the 
other  hand.     It  may  be  said  that  the  general  trend  is  in 
favour  of  the  German  plan.     Year  by  year  we  find  the 
system  becoming  more  and  more  developed,  whether  we 
regard  great  states  such  as  America,  important  industrial 
dominions  such  as  the  Union  of  South  Africa,  or  Crown 
Colonies  such  as  Nigeria.     Under  British  rule  in  numerous 
cases  limited  benefits  of  a  like  nature  have  been  extended 
to  native  races  as  well  as  to  white  employees.     Throughout 
our  overseas   dominions   we   find   not  only  the   principle 
of  compensation   for  accident  established,  but  also   com- 
pensation  being  granted  for  incapacity  due  to  industrial 
disease,   while    simultaneously  elaborate    measures— such 
for  example,  as  the   Miners'  Phthisis  Act,   19 19,  of  the 
Union  of  South  Africa— have  been  designed  for  the  preven- 
tion of,^  and  compensation  for,  particular  diseases  special 
to  certain  employments. 

Health   Insurance 

The  establishment  of  workmen's  compensation  did 
much  to  eliminate  one  great  cause  of  destitution,  but  it 
hardly  touched  the  problem  of  poverty  due  to  sickness. 
In   such   cases,   apart   from   the  very  limited   number  of 


THE  ATTACK  UPON  POVERTY 

illnesses  due  to  industrial  disease,  the  worker  was  left  very 
largely   dependent    upon    his   own   resources.      It   is   true 
[hat  ample  facilities  existed  for  insuring  against  such  risks 
[hrough    the    great    Friendly    Societies,    sick-pay    clubs, 
and  the  like,  but  experience  showed  that  in  a  very  great 
bumber  of  cases  those  nearest  the  border-line  of  poverty 
Were  the  most  likely  to  leave  themselves  unprotected  in  the 
case  of  illness.     With  some  this  was  due  to  thoughtlessness 
ind  thrifdessness,  with  others,  such  as  casual  dock-labourers, 
it  was  due  primarily  to  persistent  poverty  and  recurring 
periods  of  absolute  want.      In  both  cases  it  resulted  in  the 
State  being  constantly  confronted  with  masses  of  broken  men 
and  women  whose  condition  was  such  that  when  bad  times 
,and  bad  health  combined  they  fell  into  hopeless  misery. 
I     In  this  department  of  social  reform  Germany  again  led 
the  way.     The  innovation  was  not  made  without  resistance. 
When  in  the  eighties  of  last  century  the  National  Insurance 
legislation  was  under  discussion  in  Germany  it  was  declared 
by  many  that  the  burden  upon  industry  would  result  in 
economic  chaos.     The  critics  were,  however,  confounded 
by  the  course  of  events,  and  in  1 9 1  o  Dr  Kaufmann  declared : 
I  The  course  of  events  has  justified  the  authors  of  the  Industrial 

■  Insurance  legislation.  During  the  last  two  decades  German 
national  economy  has  experienced  an  almost  unexampled  develop- 
ment, and  by  the  raising  of  its  physical,  intellectual,  and  material 
condition  the  working  class  has  participated  in  this  development. 
It  was  no  accident  that  the  period  of  this  great  expansion  syn- 
chronized with  a  radical  improvement  in  the  condition  of  the 
workers,  for  the  two  are  intimately  connected. 

Again,  Dr  E.  Muensterberg,  formerly  director  of  the 
Berlin  Poor  Law  Administration,  has  left  it  upon  record  that  : 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Insurance  Legislation  has  raised 
the  standard  of  life  of  the  industrial  population  and  also  that  of 
the  poorer  classes.  The  public  poor  funds  [similar  to  our  poor 
rates]  have  unquestionably  been  relieved  by  the  insurance  laws. 
Even  where  the  expenditure  on  paupers  shows  no  decrease  it  is 
acknowledged  that,  without  this  social  legislation,  such  expenditure 
would  have  been  far  greater,  since  the  major  part  of  those  insured 

379 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

would  have  needed  poor  relief.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
General  Insurance  Legislation  has  exerted  an  enormous  influence 
on  the  public  care  of  the  poor  in  every  direction.  In  consequence 
of  the  Sickness  Insurance  Lav/  in  particular  all  industrial  work- 
people, and,  to  a  large  extent,  the  members  of  their  families  as  well, 
have  been  lifted  above  the  necessity  of  seeking  poor  relief  in  time 
of  sickness.  To  this  extent  the  relief  afforded  to  the  poor  funds 
has  been  absolute. 

Despite  the  success  of  the  German  Sickness  Insurance 
legislation,  the  principle  was  not  adopted  in  England  until 
191 1,  when,  thanks  mainly  to  the  activities  of  Mr  Lloyd 
George,  the  National  Insurance  Act  of  that  year  was  passed. 
This  Act,  which  has  since  been  substantially  amended  and 
extended,  was  designed  to  effect  two  great  ends  : 

(i)  Insurance  of  the  working  population  against  sickness, 
breakdown,  consumption,  and  unemployment. 

(2)  A  reduction  of  the  number  of  paupers,  with  conse- 
quent reduction  in  the  poor  rate  and  in  the 
expenditure  on  Poor  Law  administration. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  in  the  main  these  aims 
have  been  achieved.  There  can  also  be  little  doubt  that 
the  administration  of  the  Act  and  the  amending  Acts  has 
been  marked  by  notable  abuses.  We  are  concerned, 
however,  only  with  principles,  and  in  principle  the  National 
Insurance  scheme  represents  a  substantial  step  forward. 
On  its  unemployment  side  it  has  since  the  passing  of 
the  Act  of  1 9 1 1  been  greatly  extended  and  now  forms  a 
valuable  protection  against  unmerited  poverty. 

The  Minimum  Wage 

It  is,  however,  of  little  service  to  elaborate  machinery 
to  save  a  man  from  indigence  due  to  lack  of  earning  capacity 
resulting  from  temporary  causes  if  such  man  when -em- 
ployed is  in  receipt  of  a  wage  so  low  as  to  be  unable  to 
support  him  and  his  dependents  in  a  reasonable  standard 
of  Hfe.  Accident,  sickness,  and  unemployment  insurance 
law  must  thus  be  supplemented  by  provisions  requiring  the 
380 


THE  ATTACK  UPON  POVERTY 

payment  of  what  has  come  to  be  known  as  a  *  living  wage.* 
As  Mr  PhiHp  Snowden  has  observed  in  A  Living  l^Vage  : 

The  trend  of  all  industrial  and  social  legislation  for  more  than  a 
century  has  been  in  the  direction  of  the  establishment  of  a  Living 
Standard.  Various  motives  have  entered  into  the  support  of  such 
legislation.  The  moral  appeal,  the  industrial  and  social  economy 
of  healthier  conditions  and  of  a  better  educated  working  class,  the 
political  and  trade  union  pressure  of  labour,  have  all  contributed. 

In  speaking  of  a  '  living  standard  '  Mr  Snowden  here 
means  something  far  wider  than  a  living  wage.  A  wage 
is  only  one  part  of  the  numerous  particulars  that  conjointly 
establish  the  standard  of  life.  Conditions  of  work,  home 
environment,  mental  environment,  are  as  important  in 
some  respects  as  the  quantum  of  the  wage  earned.  How 
such  conditions  and  environments  have  been  changed 
for  the  better  we  have  already  seen.  But  in  another  sense 
they  are  less  important  than  the  existence  of  a  living  wage, 
for  upon  that  must  depend  the  others.  Poverty  carries 
with  it  in  its  train  all  material  miseries,  and  though  it  may 
spur  the  genius  to  works  of  supreme  grandeur  its  effect 
on  the  mind  of  the  common  man  is  dulling  and  depressing. 

But  though  this  be  so,  though  the  full  advantage  flowing 
from  Factory,  Housing,  and  Education  Acts  cannot  be  secured 
to  the  man  permanently  on  the  edge  of  destitution,  though 
tens  of  thousands  of  men  and  women  were  employed  in 
industries  known  as  *  sweated,'  it  was  not  until  quite  recent 
years  that  the  Government  passed  legislation  designed  to 
secure  a  living  wage  to  all. 

There  were,  in  fact,  powerful  and  unexpected  opponents 
to  any  such  course  of  action.  The  trade  unions,  which 
in  the  last  few  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century  grew  to 
such  power,  were  inclined  to  rely  on  their  power  of 
bargaining;  the  employers  raised  the  age-old  cry  that 
wages  higher  than  those  then  paid  meant  ruin  for  their 
industry.  The  operatives  themselves  were  among  the 
humblest,  the  poorest,  and  the  feeblest  of  mankind.  Once 
again,  as  at  the  time  of  the  regulation  of  mines,  it  was 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

through  the  activities  of  humanitarians  working  through 
the  power  of  ParHament  and  the  benevolence  of  a  democratic 
Government  that  this  principle  of  the  minimum  wage  was 
established  by  the  passing  of  the  Trade  Boards  Act,  1909. 

Long  before  then,  in  1891,  and  again  in  1893,  i^  is 
true,  Parliament  had  recognized  the  right  of  certain  persons; 
in  Government  employ,  viz.,  persons  employed  in  naval 
establishments,  to  receive  a  living  wage.  But  the  Act  of 
1909  went  much  further  than  that.  For  the  first  time 
since  the  repeal  of  the  Tudor  legislation  the  State  definitely 
interfered  with  the  fixing  of  wages,  and  now  it  interfered 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  not  a  maximum  but  a 
minimum  rate  of  wage. 

The  application  of  the  Act  was,  of  course,  limited. 
Only  those  trades  specifically  mentioned,  viz.,  certain  forms 
of  tailoring,  box-making,  machine-made  lace  or  net  finish- 
ing, and  chain-making,  together  with  such  other  trades 
as  might  be  added  by  Order,  were  included.  By  the 
amending  Act  of  191 8,  however,  the  Minister  of  Labour 
is  empowered  by  special  Order  to  apply  the  principal  Act 
to  any  specified  trade  to  which  it  does  not  at  the  time  apply 
if  he  is  of  opinion  that  no  adequate  machinery  exists  for 
the  effective  regulation  of  wages  throughout  that  trade, 
and  that  accordingly,  having  regard  to  the  rates  of  wages 
prevailing  in  the  trade,  it  is  expedient  that  the  principal 
Act  should  apply  to  that  trade. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  policy  of  the  State  as  regards 
wages  is  to  look  primarily  to  free  bargaining  between 
those  representing  the  employers  and  the  employed.  This 
system  has  within  very  recent  times  been  strengthened 
and  elaborated  by  a  vast  number  of  converging  factors, 
by  the  organization  of  the  opposing  parties,  the  develop- 
ment of  conciliation  machinery,  the  institution  of  arbitral 
tribunals.  Where,  however,  despite  such  machinery,  free 
bargaining  cannot  operate  satisfactorily,  either  because  of 
the  unorganized  state  of  the  trade  or  for  other  reasons, 
then  there  is  available  as  a  last  resort  the  Trade  Board 
legislation  which  establishes  or  permits  the  establishment 

382 


THE  ATTACK  UPON  POVERTY 

"or  such  trade  of  a  minimum  wage  sufficient  to  prevent 
:he  destitution  of  the  workers. 

The  principle  of  the  minimum  wage  has,  of  course,  been 
ntroduced  into  the  jurisprudence  of  many  other  states. 
[t  is  always  impossible,  within  reasonable  limits,  to  consider 
such  matters  comparatively.  The  mass  of  legislation, 
especially  within  recent  times,  on  any  one  subject  of  social 
improvement  is  so  great  as  to  defy  analysis  in  a  short  space. 
An  occasional  example  can  alone  be  given. 

In  all  matters  relating  to  a  minimum  wage  Australia  has 
taken  a  leading  part.  Many  years  ago  the  Commonwealth 
fixed  ;^i  lo  per  annum  as  the  minimum  wage  for  all  Govern- 
ment employees  who  were  adults,  women  as  well  as  men. 
Later  this  principle  was  extended  to  various  kinds  of  private 
employments,  though,  of  course,  the  rate  has  varied. 

Thus,  for  example,  legislation  was  passed  in  Victoria 
as  early  as  1896  which  established  a  minimum  wage  for 
certain  trades,  viz.,  clothes-making,  boot-making,  furniture- 
making,  and  baking.  Its  scope  was  subsequently  ex- 
tended, and  in  1905  a  consolidating  Act  was  passed.  The 
English  Act  was  modelled  upon  the  experience  of  Victoria. 

In  England  it  is  also  necessary  to  refer  to  the  '  panic  ' 
legislation  which  followed  after  the  great  coal  strike  of 
1 9 12.  The  Coal  Mines  Minimum  Wage  Act  of  that 
year  was  not  desired  by  the  miners  and  was  opposed  by  the 
owners.  The  Government  were  fearful  of  its  probable 
consequences,  but  in  the  words  of  Mr  Asquith  : 

His  Majesty's  Government  are  satisfied,  after  careful  considera- 
tion, that  there  are  cases  in  which  underground  employees  cannot 
earn  a  reasonable  minimum  wage,  from  causes  over  which  they 
have  no  control  ;  and  they  are  further  satisfied  that  the  power  to 
earn  such  a  wage  should  be  secured  by  arrangements  suitable  to 
the  special  circumstances  of  each  district  ;  adequate  safeguards 
to  be  provided  to  protect  the  employers  against  abuse. 

It  will  be  realized  that  this  Act  proceeded  from  very 
different  motives  from  those  which  inspired  the  Trade 
Boards  Act.  It  conflicted  with  the  principle  of  free  and 
fair  bargaining,  it  regulated  wages  in  an  industry  notable 

383 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

for  the  exceptional  strength  of  its  trade-union  organization, 
it  resulted  directly  from  a  strike,  and  it  has,  in  our  opinion', 
been  of  disservice  to  the  industry  and  to  the  community.  ' 

Old  Age  Pensions  ' 

The  various  measures  that  we  have  already  considered 
have  gone  far  to  remove  the  possibility  of  fortuitous  in- 
digence. Neither  these  nor  any  other  Acts  of  Parliament, 
however,  _  are  capable  of  saving  more  than  the  waifs  and ; 
strays  of  industry.  National  prosperity  must  to-day,  as  in 
past  ages,  be  the  result  of  the  ability  and  industry  of  the 
generality  of  men.  The  strike,  recognized  even  by  Mr 
Snowden  as  a  thing  which  "never  did  bring  much  sub- 
stantial gain  to  the  workers,"  the  policy  of  ca'  canny,  the 
antagonism  between  the  two  parts  of  industry,  capital  and 
labour,  these  may  offer  obstacles  to  progress  and  prosperity 
more  fatal  than  any  that  have  yet  been  overcome.  But  the 
solution  of  these  problems  is  in  the  hands  of  the  masses 
themselves.     A  benevolent  Government  can  do  but  little. 

But_  in  one  further  particular  the  State  has  succeeded  in 
removing  the  great  fear  which  has  hitherto  overshadowed 
the  lives  of  the  workers.  The  problem  of  an  unprovided- 
for  old  age  is  no  modern  one.  Formerly  those  who  were 
unthrifty  or  unfortunate  were  abandoned  to  the  care  of 
their  children  or  to  the  shelter  of  the  workhouse.  The 
course  of  their  lives  rendered  it  almost  impossible  to  save 
any  considerable  sum  of  money,  and  only  too  frequently 
it  befell  that  in  the  declining  years  the  hard-working  and 
respectable  old  man  or  woman  was  condemned,  for  im- 
prisonment could  hardly  have  been  worse,  to  associate 
with  the  loose,  the  rowdy,  and  the  degenerate  inhabitants 
of  the  workhouse.  This  last  indignity  has  in  no  small 
measure  been  removed  by  the  various  Acts  which  have 
granted  and  extended  the  pensions  now  paid  to  all  workers 
who  reach  a  certain  age  without  being  chargeable  on  the 
rates.  Such  people  have  run  a  hard  race,  and  the  prize  now 
reserved  to  them,  if  small  in  amount,  is  one  that  is  merited, 
is  earned,  and  is  appreciated. 

384 


CHAPTER    XVI 

TENDENCIES 

WITHOUT  aspiring  to  prophecy  it  may  be  useful, 
now  that  we  have  surveyed  in  broad  outHne  the 
history  of  Labour,  to  endeavour  to  determine  the 
probabilities  of  the  future  from  the  happenings  of  the 
past.     As  Professor  Carlton  has  observed : 

The  trend  of  events  in  the  past  and  present  may  furnish  aid  in 
discerning  in  a  general  way  the  direction  in  which  we  are  moving. 
A  study  of  industrial  and  social  evolution  provides  some  reasonable 
foundation  for  a  tentative  discussion  of  the  present  tendencies 
affecting  the  relations  existing  between  labour,  capital,  and  the 
general  public.  The  evolution  of  political  authority  since  the  fall 
of  the  Roman  Empire  has  been  carefully  studied  by  historians  and 
publicists.  Lagging  behind  in  the  shadow  of  this  development 
is  a  somewhat  similar  transformation  in  industrial  affairs.  The 
latter  movement  is  less  spectacular,  and  up  to  recent  times  has 
never  attracted  much  attention.  In  their  political  evolution  the 
most  progressive  Western  nations  have  passed  from  exploitation, 
barbarian-warrior  control  to  absolute  centralized  management, 
on  to  the  admission  of  the  commercial  and  manufacturing  interests 
to  participation  in  governmental  functions,  to  the  use  of  the 
constitutional  form  of  government,  and  finally  to  the  modern 
democracy  with  its  broad  suffrage  provisions.  A  similar  evolution 
may  be  traced  in  the  realm  of  religion  and  in  the  family  life.  The 
industrial  world  is  the  last  stronghold  of  the  despotic  principle.^ 

We  have  taken  the  above  passage  from  the  writings  of 
an  American  economist  of  some  note,  because  we  believe 
that  the  most  important  movement  in  the  world  of  labour 
to-day  is  that  which  desires  to  see  the  nationalization  of 
industries,   and   because   on   this   issue  it  is   desirable   to 

1  History  and  Problems  of  Organised  Labour. 

2B  385 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

distinguish  between  revolution  and  evolution,  and  to  see 
whether  the  aim  desired  should  by  now  have  been  attained 
in  the  course  of  evolution.  If  not,  then  we  may  assume 
that  to  achieve  that  aim  at  once  revolutionary  means, 
in  either  the  social  or  the  industrial  world,  must  be  resorted 
to,  and  it  therefore  remains  to  be  considered  whether  the 
end  justifies  those  means. 

Definitions  of  Nationalization 

When  considering  such  a  question  as  nationalization 
of  industries  it  is  of  the  first  importance  to  define  terms. 
Nationalization  has,  indeed,  been  given  at  least  three 
broadly  different  meanings,  and  these  meanings  have  all 
been  confused.  In  Germany,  in  connexion  with  the 
State  coal  mines  which  have  been  said  to  have  been 
nationalized,  nationalization  simply  means  State  owner- 
ship with  bureaucratic  control.  In  this  sense  also  the 
postal,  telegraph,  and  telephone  systems  of  this  and  many 
other  countries  may  be  described  as  nationalized;  in  the 
same  way  the  railway  systems  of  Belgium  and  of  certain 
parts  of  France  have  been  the  subjects  of  nationalization. 

In  all  the  above  cases  the  persons  employed  in  the 
industry  in  question  are  not  peculiarly  interested  or  con- 
sidered. They  have  no  more  control  than  in  the  case  of 
private  concerns.  These  State  concerns  when  resolved 
into  their  parts  turn  out  to  be  huge  monopolistic  trusts 
differing  only  from  capitalistic  trusts  in  the  fact  that  even 
if  profits  are  made  they  go  not  to  the  advantage  of  any 
individual,  but  to  the  profit  of  the  State  in  general. 

A  second  kind  of  nationalization  is  that  which  was 
pressed  for  by  various  industrialists  in  South  Africa  who 
desired  to  see  State  mining  introduced  into  the  goldfields 
of  South  Africa,  particularly  in  the  case  of  the  East  Rand 
goldfield.  Here,  as  in  the  case  of  the  first  kind  of  nationali- 
zation above  mentioned,  the  form  of  nationalization  desired 
was  State  ownership  with  bureaucratic  control,  but  it 
differed  in  this,  that  the  aim  of  those  who  pressed  for  State 
ownership  was  to  carry  on  the  business  not  so  much  for 

386 


TENDENCIES 

the  purpose  of  profit-making  as  for  the  benefit  of  the  persons 
employed  in  the  industry,  or,  rather,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
white  labour  employed  in  the  industry.  This  form  of 
nationalization  was  rejected  by  the  State  Mining  Com- 
mission for  the  Union  of  South  Africa,  which  issued  its 
majority  and  minority  reports  in  191 7. 

The  third,  or  perhaps  we  should  admit  the  possibility 
of  more  than  three  variants  by  saying  a  third,  form  of 
nationalization  is  that  which  emerged  as  a  result  of  the 
deliberations  of  the  Coal  Industry  Commission  which  sat 
in  London  in  1919  to  consider  the  nationalization  of  the 
coal-mining  industry  of  Great  Britain.  This  form  of 
nationalization  may  be  described  as  the  democratization  of 
industry,  whereby  the  ownership  is  in  the  State  as  share- 
holder, and  the  direction  and  control  is  partly  in  the  State, 
partly  in  the  worker,  and  partly  in  the  consumer,  the  interests 
of  those  who  supply  the  money  and  the  labour  and  of  those 
who  purchase  the  product  of  the  industry  being  thus  alike 
safeguarded.  By  a  small  majority  this  form  of  nationaliza- 
tion was  recommended  by  the  Coal  Industry  Commission 
for  the  consideration  of  Parliament,  but  the  recommenda- 
tions were  rejected  by  the  Coalition  Government  then  in 
power,  whose  decision  appeared  to  be  subsequently  ratified 
by  public  opinion  as  expressed  both  in  the  public  Press 
and  in  the  industrial  world  by  the  refusal  of  trade  unionists 
to  allow  the  issue  thus  created  between  the  miners  and  the 
Government  to  be  made  the  ground  for  a  general  strike. 

It  is  of  this  form  of  nationalization  that  we  at  present 
more  particularly  speak,  though  it  should  be  understood 
that,  in  considering  it,  it  is  necessary  to  postulate  that  if 
sound  it  would  of  necessity  involve  the  nationalization  not 
merely  of  the  coal  industry  but  of  all  industries,  and 
if  unsound  in  respect  of  the  one  industry  in  relation  to 
which  it  has  been  most  critically  examined,  it  would  be 
also  unsound  for  all  other  industries.  In  other  words, 
nationalization  as  a  principle  is  either  good  for  all  industries 
or  good  for  none. 

It  is  necessary  to  make  one  more  preliminary  remark. 

387 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

One  may  hold  strongly  to  the  view  that  nationalization  is 
a  thing  of  the  future,  and  is  a  form  of  industrial  organism 
which  offers  great  advantages  to  the  State  and  the  workers, 
without  admitting  that  it  is  either  desirable  or  possible 
at  the  present  moment.  In  the  same  way  a  visionary  in 
the  fourteenth  or  even  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  might  have  looked  forward  with  fervent  hopes  to 
a  time  when  the  control  of  states  should  be  in  the  hands 
of  the  subjects  of  those  states.  Such  a  reformer  might 
have  struggled  and  fought  for  the  immediate  rise  of  a  free 
democracy.  Had  he  done  so,  either  he  would  have  fought 
in  vain,  or,  had  he  won,  he  would  not  have  advantaged  the 
people.  For  the  rise  of  a  free  democracy  capable  of 
exercising  effective  control  over  national  destinies  depends 
not  so  much  upon  the  machinery  of  government  as  upon 
the  mental  and  spiritual  development  of  the  citizens  who 
form  the  state.  To  give  adult  suffrage,  or,  in  other  words, 
to  hand  over  the  control  of  the  machinery  of  government 
to  a  people  that  is  unlettered  and  superstitious,  that  is 
unacquainted  with  foreign  affairs  and  ignorant  of  internal 
conditions,  that  is  incapable  of  forming  an  ordered  judgment 
either  on  the  ends  to  be  pursued  or  as  to  the  means  to 
accomplish  such  ends,  would  be  to  create  not  democracy 
but  disorder. 

It  is  therefore  necessary  not  only  to  consider  whether 
a  proposition  for  social  betterment  is  theoretically  sound, 
granted  a  perfect  state  of  society;  it  is  also  important  to 
see  whether  society  is  perfect  or,  if  not  perfect,  sufficiently 
developed  to  make  the  end  pursued  not  only  possible  but 
expedient.  To  attempt  to  foist  on  an  unprepared  people 
political  or  social  forms  for  which  the  fabric  of  their  society 
is  not  designed  is  to  invoke  a  form  of  revolution  and  to 
risk  shattering  the  whole  structure.  It  is  as  though, 
desiring  to  improve  a  building,  one  should  impose  upon  the 
ancient  foundations  new  stories  which  those  foundations 
were  never  intended  to  carry.  The  result  would  not  be  a 
skyscraper,  but  a  heap  of  ruins.  No  more  perfect  example 
of  the   desolation   resulting   from   attempting   to   achieve 

388 


TENDENCIES 

Dolitical  and  social  progress  without  taking  count  of  the 
pxisting  structure  of  society  is  to  be  seen  than  in  the 
.Russian  Revolution,  where  the  granting  of  what  appeared 
theoretically  to  be  a  constitution  giving  absolute  freedom 
in  politics,  society,  and  industry  resulted  in  a  despotism 
in  which  liberty  of  opinion  and  action  was  absolutely 
.destroyed.  There,  indeed,  we  have  seen  what  was  intended 
;to  be  the  splendid  edifice  that  should  replace  the  absolutism 
lof  Tzardom  crash  into  a  mere  heap  of  disordered  fragments 
in  which  neither  rich  nor  poor  could  find  shelter. 

In  considering  the  question  of  nationalization  we  shall 
consequently  regard  the  matter  first  from  the  point  of  view 
of  a  society  that  is  sufficiently  developed  to  receive  it  and 
then  we  shall  endeavour  to  determine  whether  our  social 
state  as  it  exists  to-day  is  so  sufficiently  developed. 

Efficiency  the  Test 

Industry,  it  may  be  assumed,  should  exist  for  the  benefit 
of  the  people  at  large.  It  should,  therefore,  at  once  produce 
goods  as  cheaply  as  possible  in  as  large  a  quantity  as 
possible.  Those  engaged  in  industry  should  receive  wages 
that  are  as  high  as  possible  in  return  for  work  carried  out 
through  the  minimum  number  of  hours.  These  aims, 
stated  dogmatically,  are  all  desirable;  they  are  also 
mutually  destructive.  It  is  therefore  necessary  for  the 
reformer  to  balance  each  one  against  the  others  until  it  is 
found  what  are  the  best  hourage  and  wage  that  will  produce 
the  most  suitable  quantity  of  products  at  the  most  just  cost. 

It  will  be  apparent  that,  without  going  into  any  detail, 
the  optimum  in  each  of  these  various  directions  cannot  be 
reached  unless  there  is  present  on  the  part  of  all  concerned 
the  maximum  efficiency.  To  take  a  simple  case,  if  we 
regard  an  absolutely  efficient  factory  in  which  is  working 
an  absolutely  efficient  workman,  such  workman  will  pro- 
duce more  articles  at  a  less  cost  than  would  a  poor  workman 
operating  in  an  ill-equipped  factory.  Such  articles  could 
consequently  be  sold  at  a  less  price;  and  if  it  were  so 
desired,  the   workman,  instead   of  turning  out   so   many 

389 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

articles  at  such  a  small  cost,  could  work  fewer  hours 
at  the  same  wage,  or  could  work  the  same  hours  for  a 
higher  wage. 

Efficiency,  therefore,  becomes  the  test  whether  this  or 
that  form  of  industrial  organization  makes  for  the  public 
good.  For  the  maximum  efficiency  to  be  achieved  it  is 
necessary  to  have  maximum  efficiency  in  management  as 
well  as  in  labour,  in  distribution  as  well  as  in  production, 
in  development  as  well  as  in  the  exploitation  of  that  which 
is  already  developed. 

What,  then,  is  likely  to  make  for  the  maximum  efficiency  ? 
It  will  be  observed  that  in  considering  the  advantages  to 
be  arrived  at  we  have  looked  almost  entirely  at  material 
advantages :  many  and  cheap  products ;  high  wages ; 
reduced  hours  involving  much  leisure.  We  have  chosen 
these  benefits  as  ones  that  are  obvious  and  make  a  natural 
appeal  to  those  who  live  to-day  in  a  material  world.  But 
the  acceptance  of  these  advantages  involves  the  further 
acceptance  of  material  gain  as  the  main  motive  force  of 
human  activity.  It  follows  as  a  consequence  that  material 
rewards  form  the  best  incentive  to  efficiency. 

Let  us,  therefore,  see  how  such  propositions  fit  in  with 
the  theory  of  nationalization.  It  is  possible  that  in  a 
perfect  state  of  society  in  which  men  were  all  possessed 
of  a  high  level  of  education,  imbued  with  a  desire  to  serve 
their  generation,  in  which  duties  were  recognized  with 
the  same  force  as  rights,  and  in  which  it  was  considered 
to  be  dishonourable  not  to  give  of  one's  best  during 
the  hours  one  was  labouring  for  the  State,  men  would 
achieve  the  maximum  efficiency  without  supervision  or 
control.  In  such  a  Utopia  the  labour  half  of  the  machine 
would  run  smoothly  and  safely  without  either  oiling  or 
guards.  It  is  possible,  also,  that  the  most  able  men  would 
come  forward  and  place  their  brains  and  abilities  at  the 
service  of  the  State  without  thought  of  private  fortune  or 
personal  aggrandizement.  It  might  then  be  that  inventors 
would  produce  their  schemes  and  devote  their  leisure  and 
their  ideas  to  the  service  of  humanity  for  nothing;  that 

39°  ^^ 


TENDENCIES 

lanagers  would  be  content  to  become  as  efficient  as 
>ossible  solely  in  order  that  the  community  might  benefit 
From  their  knowledge  and  experience;  that  capital  would 
be  diverted  into  the  channels  where  it  was  most  needed 
without  regard  to  the  profits  that  would  accrue  so  only 
that  a  reasonable  return  was  secured.  To  state  these  possi- 
bilities is  to  show,  however,  how  far  we  are  yet  from  a 
state  of  society  in  which  the  material  incentives  now 
offered  by  commercialism  or  capitalism  could  safely  be 
dispensed  with. 

When  we  get  down  to  the  hard  bed-rock  of  actualities 
a  very  different  stratum  of  fact  is  discovered. 

Efficiency  of  State  Control 

It  has  been  strongly  urged  both  in  England  and  else- 
where that  the  experiences  of  the  War  have  proved  that 
the  State  direction  of  industry  results  in  a  vast  increase  in 
the  production  of  things  necessary  for  the  well-being  of  the 
State.  In  the  words  of  the  Report  of  the  South  African 
State  Mining  Commission  of  191 7: 

At  the  present  hour  political  thought  is  dominated  by  the 
facility  with  which  States,  in  pursuit  of  divers  State  interests, 
sacrifice  the  lives,  the  property,  and  the  well-being  of  their  subjects. 
The  manifestation  during  the  War  of  the  omnipotence  of  States 
over  their  subjects  was  frequently  referred  to  in  evidence  as  pointing 
to  the  necessity  of  States  exercising  similarly  extensive  activity  in 
the  time  of  peace  for  the  purposes  of  industrial  development.  .  .  , 
It  was  frequently  asserted  in  evidence  that  the  exigencies  of  warfare 
had  settled  once  and  for  all  the  question  as  to  the  respective  advan- 
tages and  disadvantages  of  public  and  private  enterprise.  The 
measures  adopted  by  Governments  in  industrial  organization  to 
secure  material  for  military  purposes  were  accepted  as  marking 
the  close  of  the  era  of  industrial  organization  under  the  control  of 
the  private  firm  or  the  public  company. 

There  can,  of  course,  be  no  doubt  that  the  State  control 
of  industries  for  war  purposes  did  achieve  very  notable 
results  in  the  production  of  war  material  and  in  the  growth 
and  transport  of  the  necessities  of  Hfe.     How  great  that 

391 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

achievement  was  in  Britain  may  be  gathered  from  Sir 
Leo  Chiozza  Money's  interesting  book,  The  Triumph  of 
Nationalization.  It  is  only  possible,  however,  to  compare 
like  with  like.  One  cannot,  for  example,  compare  a  hippo- 
potamus with  a  pearl ;  the  hippopotamus  may  be  much 
larger  without  being  more  valuable.  It  is  also  apparent 
that  the  whole  circumstances  of  industry  during  war 
and  during  peace  are  fundamentally  unlike.  The  Govern- 
ment War  effort  was  carried  on  regardless  of  convenience 
or  cost ;  practically  the  whole  man-power  of  the  country 
was  diverted  into  immediately  necessary  and  ultimately 
absolutely  useless  work;  shells  were  produced  in  gigantic 
quantities  and  at  enormous  cost;  the  public  credit  was 
widely  broken  into  to  sustain  for  a  few  years  an  effort 
which,  if  maintained  even  for  a  decade,  would  have  plunged 
the  world  into  universal  ruin.  Is  it  in  any  way  possible 
to  compare  such  activities  with  peace-time  commerce  } 
Is  it  possible  to  ignore  the  fact  that,  as  a  result  of  the 
necessary  and  valuable  steps  taken  by  Governments  to 
meet  an  overwhelming  peril,  the  cost  of  living  has  in- 
creased threefold,  many  people  are  without  houses,  half 
the  nations  of  Europe  are  trembling  on  the  verge  of 
bankruptcy,  and  the  British  National  Debt  is  counted  in 
terms  of  thousands  of  millions  .? 

In  view  of  these  considerations  it  appears  necessary 
for  the  purpose  of  clear  thinking  to  brush  on  one  side  war- 
time experiences  altogether.  The  whole  circumstances 
were  extraordinary,  and  both  life  and  money  were  then 
disregarded.  Rather  let  us  compare  like  with  like  and  see 
how  in  times  of  peace  the  State  control  of  industries  com- 
pares with  private  control  so  far  as  efficiency  of  management 
is  concerned. 

The  most  valuable  comparison  which  can  be  made  is 
probably  between  the  working  of  the  State  and  the  private 
mines  of  Germany,  but  if  such  examples  as  the  working 
of  the  telephone  system  of  America  or  Great  Britain  under 
private  management  and  under  public  control  were  resorted 
to,  it  would  be  seen  that  even  in  simple  businesses  involving 


TENDENCIES 

little  more  than  organizing  and  administrative  ability  the 
I  comparison  does  not  favour  State  control. 
I      In   Germany   State   coal-mines    have    been   worked    for 
j  more  than  a  century,  and  at  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  war 
in  1 9 14  a  substantial  part  of  the  coal  output  of  that  country 
was  derived  from  State  mines.     Between  the  years  1881- 
19 10,  while  the  output  from  private  mines  increased  from 
44,865,000  to  125,916,000  tons  per  annum,  that  from  the 
State  mines  increased  from  9,596,000  to  20,002,000  tons 
per  annum.     The  State  mines  thus  produced  roughly  one- 
sixth  of  the  amount  of  coal  obtained  from  private  mines, 
and  formed  therefore  an  important  branch  of  the  industry. 
Now,  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  test  of  efficiency  in 
management  is  to  be  found  not  in  the  gross  output,  for  that 
may  depend  upon  the  size  of  the  concern,  but  in  the  output 
per  man  employed,  and  when  this  test  is  applied  over  the 
twenty-two  years   from    1889   to    1 9 1 1    it  is   found   that 
whereas  under  private  ownership  in  Germany  the  output 
went  up  from  247  to  253  tons  per  man  per  annum  the 
output  in  the  State  mines  commenced  at  the  comparatively 
low  figure  of  239  tons  per  man  per  annum  and  dropped  to 
223.     It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  whether  in  respect  of 
productivity  in  any  one  year  or  over  a  series  of  years.  State 
ownership  and  State  control  of  the  German  type  has  proved 
itself  to  be  less  efficient  than  private  ownership;  and  such 
comparative  inefficiency  has  become  greater  with  the  passing 
of  the  years. 

Had  this  low  productivity  resulted  in  the  workers 
employed  in  the  industry  being  better  treated  in  the 
matter  of  either  wages  or  hours  the  loss  to  the  consumer 
would  in  some  measure  have  been  compensated  by  the 
gain  to  the  producer;  but,  in  fact,  the  workers  in  the  State 
mines  were  paid  less  for  the  same  number  of  hours  of  work, 
with  the  result  that  the  cost  of  production  in  the  State 
mines  was  before  the  War  about  the  same  as,  though 
slightly  higher  than,  the  cost  in  private  mines.  When  we 
turn  from  coal  to  metalHferous  mining  in  Germany  we  find 
that  the  State  mines  are  uniformly  carried  on  at  a  loss. 

393 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

It  is  because  of  such  considerations  as  these  that  the  Chief 
of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  in  America  cabled  at  the  time  of 
the  sitting  of  the  South  African  State  Mining  Commission 
that  ; 

In  the  United  States  the  Government  policy  towards  mining 
and  other  industries  has  tended,  as  evidenced  in  the  mineral  and 
land  laws  and  anti-trust  legislation,  towards  the  rewarding  of 
industrial  effort  and  the  encouragement  of  competition  rather 
than  towards  State  operation  or  socialistic  effort. 

Experiences 

When  we  consider  the  experiences  of  other  countries 
that  have  experimented  with  State  ownership  and  control 
of  industries  we  find  that  the  results  obtained  have  not 
been  exceptionally  good  or  in  any  way  superior  to  those 
attained  under  private  ownership.  Whether  we  consider 
the  State  mines  of  Tasmania,  Victoria,  Queensland,  South 
Australia,  New  South  Wales,  New  Zealand,  Holland,  or 
Austria-Hungary,  or  the  efforts  made  by  the  Dutch  Colonial 
Government  in  Banka  Islands  and  by  the  English  Colonial 
Government  in  Nigeria,  we  discover  either  a  lack  of  success 
or  results  not  superior  to  those  obtained  by  private  owner- 
ship working  under  similar  conditions.  It  is  true  that 
in  the  Netherlands  the  wages  paid  in  State  mines  during 
the  years  1911  to  1914  were  slightly  higher  than  in  the 
case  of  privately  owned  mines,  varying  from  4*65  shillings 
to  4*98  shillings  per  day  for  underground  men  as  against 
4*23  and  4*92  shillings  respectively  in  the  case  of  privately 
owned  concerns,  but  the  output  per  man  was  substantially 
lower,  varying  from  21  i*i  tons  to  257*9  tons  per  annum  as 
against  273*5  ^^^  285*6  tons.  Here  again,  as  in  the  case 
of  Germany,  the  State  proved  less  able  to  overcome  excep- 
tional difficulties,  the  output  per  month  in  1916  having 
dropped  to  13*65  tons  as  against  the  18*3  tons  obtained 
under  private  enterprise. 

In  certain  isolated  cases  exceptional  financial  results 
have  been  secured  under  State  management,  but  only  in 
circumstances  most  favourable  to  profit-making.      Thus, 

394 


TENDENCIES 

during  the  Boer  War  the  late  South  African  Republic  con- 
fiscated and  worked  certain  gold  mines  in  the  Witwaters- 
rand  under  the  direction  of  the  then  State  Mining  Engineer. 
Naturally,  the  best  and  most  paying  mines  were  selected, 
and  these  mines  had  already  been  developed  and  equipped 
and  were  in  perfect  running  order.  The  best  stopes  were 
worked;  no  development  was  carried  on;  stores  found 
were  used  and  not  replaced,  or  charged  out  against  working 
costs.  The  inevitable  results  were  that  high  profits  were 
secured,  but  the  mines  themselves  were  exhausted  and 
rendered  far  less  valuable.  The  next  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  Transvaal  Government  to  mine,  this  time  for  tin 
in  the  Pietpotgietersrust  district,  under  normal  conditions 
had  a  very  different  sequel,  as  did  the  activities  of  the 
Nigerian  Government  in  the  exploitation  of  the  oil  deposits 
of  Southern  Nigeria. 

Collateral  Advantages 

Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  experience  hitherto  has  shown 
that  the  State  control  of  the  industry  of  mining,  an  industry 
which  we  take  for  the  sake  of  example  because  it  is  the 
most  important  and  the  most  complex  industry  that  has 
hitherto  been  nationalized  to  any  extent,  can  only  be  justified 
on  the  ground  that  by  that  means  only  can  certain  collateral 
advantages  be  secured ;  it  cannot  be  justified  on  the  ground 
that  by  its  means  the  industry  itself  has  been  rendered 
more  efficient. 

The  collateral  advantages  aimed  at  have  in  the  past 
been  numerous  and  diverse.  In  Germany  the  Silesian 
State  coal-mining  industry  was  begun  by  Frederick  the 
Great  in  order  to  supply  the  State  smelting  works  with 
coke,  and  the  metal-mining  industry,  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  originally  carried  on  at  a  loss,  was  commenced  in 
order  to  supply  employment  to  miners  thrown  out  of  work 
by  the  refusal  of  private  capitalists  to  continue  working 
mines  which  showed  no  profit  and  held  out  no  hope  of 
profit  in  the  future.  These  mines  were  also  used  to  give 
work  to  discharged  soldiers.     In  later  years  the  State  coal- 

395 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

mining  industry  of  Germany  was  extended  for  the  same 
reason  that  the  coal-mines  at  Port  Elizabeth,  Liverpool, 
and  Seddonville  were  sunk  by  the  New  Zealand  Govern- 
ment, viz.,  to  ensure  a  regular  and  cheap  supply  of  coal  to 
the  State  railways  and  to  protect  the  State  in  particular 
and  the  consumer  in  general  from  trade  combines  which 
threatened  to  increase  the  cost  of  coal — a  most  worthy 
object  which,  however,  could  be  achieved,  it  would  seem, 
by  legislation  such  as  the  anti-trust  legislation  of  the 
United  States.  The  Victorian  State  mine,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  opened  chiefly  owing  to  a  strike  which  occurred 
in  a  neighbouring  State  from  which  the  bulk  of  the  coal- 
supply  had  hitherto  been  obtained,  while  the  Argent  Flat 
Mine  in  Tasmania  was  developed  for  experimental  reasons, 
for,  all  the  mines  in  the  Zeehan  District  having  been  worked 
out  and  closed  down,  the  Government  was  approached 
to  sink  a  deep  shaft  to  ascertain  if  the  deposits  existed 
at  a  depth  below  those  attained  by  private  enterprise. 

But  although  the  existence  of  collateral  advantages 
may  offer  a  reasonable  ground  for  nationalizing  a  particular 
industry,  it  is  no  ground  for  nationalizing  all  industries. 
To  carry  on  one  industry  at  a  loss  may  in  some  circum- 
stances be  prudent;  to  carry  on  all  at  a  loss  inevitably 
involves  national  bankruptcy.  But,  as  we  have  seen, 
nationalization  as  a  theory  of  industrial  organism  must  be 
true  for  all  or  none.  As  a  theory  it  must  stand  or  fall  on 
the  general  and  not  on  the  particular  case. 

Workers'  Control 

The  experiments  in  nationalization  which  we  have  above 
glanced  at  have  given  results  by  which  we  can  test  the  first 
and  second  forms  of  nationalization.  We  have  seen, 
however,  that  under  the  third  form  of  nationalization  as 
above  defined  the  control  would  not  be  solely  in  the  hands 
of  the  State,  but  would  be  divided  among  the  State  nominees 
and  those  appointed  by  the  workers  and  the  consumers. 
It  is  therefore  desirable  to  consider  whether  efficiency 
would  be  increased  by  this  composite  control. 
396 


I  TENDENCIES 

There  has  been  little  experience  hitherto  of  complex 
concerns  being  carried  on  either  by  workers  or  by  their 
nominees.     The  Co-operative  movement,  as  it  is  under- 
!  stood  in  this  country,  is  hardly  a  case  in  point,  for  in  that 
:  case  the  workers  are  in  combination  simply  in  the  position 
of  an  individual  capitaUst;  the  shareholders  exercise  no 
more  control  than  do  the  shareholders  of  any  ordinary 
trading  company;  the  managerial  staff  are  chosen  because 
i  of  individual  technical  skill,  not  because  they  are  the  chosen 
1  of  the  workers.     The  nature  of  the  experiences  of  Russia, 
'  where,  it  would  appear,  serious  efforts  have  been  made  to 
run  industrial  concerns  by  councils  of  workmen  is  as  yet  too 
i  little  known  to  enable  safe  conclusions  to  be  deduced  there- 
from  but  there  is  every  sign  that  the  attempt  has  resulted 
in  a  complete  economic  and  industrial  catastrophe,  which 
I  has  doubtless  been  accentuated  by  the  political  misfortunes 
of  that  unhappy  country.     The  experiences  in  Italy,  during 
the  1 9 1 9-20  crisis,  in  so  far  as  they  go,  point  the  same  way. 
t       It  IS    however,  probably  unjust  and  certainly  unwise  to 
'  argue  from  the  experiences  of  countries  that  are  either 
on  the  brink  of  or  plunged  in  the  midst  of  revolution.     We 
•  are  consequently  thrown  back  upon  the  probabihties  of 
the  case  in  any  endeavour  to  foresee  the  effect  upon  efficiency 
of  workers'  control.     It  would  certainly  be  a  matter  for 
i  surprise  if  a  financier,  or  a  commercial  magnate,  or  a  director 
■  or  a  company  secretary   could   go  into  the   factory  and 
undertake  without  training  the  work  of  the  skilled  mechanic 
i  and  rival  him  in  the  production  of  articles  of  manufacture 
the  surprise  at  such  an  achievement  would  be  due  to  the 
fact  that  skill  in  one   department  of  life  is    not  usually 
proof  of  skill  in  an  entirely  different  branch  of  activity. 
By  what  inversion  of  reason,  therefore,  is  it  to  be  sup- 
posed that  the  skilled  mechanic  or  the  unskilled  labourer 
could    bring    new    strength   and  wisdom   to  the  delibera- 
tions of  a  board  of  directors  or  could   secure  the  more 
efficient  management  of  industries  .?     If  he  did  not  achieve 
this  miracle,  how  could  his  advent  either  improve  the  lot 
of  the  workman  or  meet  more  surely  the  needs  of  the 

397 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

consumers  ?     For  the  same  reasons  it  is  not  obvious  how 
control  by  consumers  could  increase  efficiency. 

The  Need  for  Efficiency 

It  may  of  course  be  urged  that  the  well-being  of  the 
community  rather  than  the  efficiency  of  industry  should 
be  the  goal  to  be  aimed  at,  and  that  the  triple  control  we 
have  been  considering  would  secure  this  aim  by  giving 
to  the  people  the  control  of  capital  rather  than  to  capital 
the  control  of  the  people.  It  may,  however,  be  demon- 
strated that  well-being  and  efficiency  are  mutually  depen- 
dent terms.  It  is  of  little  purpose  to  assume  the  control 
of  capital  in  the  name  of  the  people  if  by  so  doing  the 
condition  of  the  masses  is  degraded ;  it  matters  little  who 
rules  so  that  the  people  are  advantaged. 

That  efficiency  and  well-being  depend  the  one  upon 
the  other  is  a  maxim  of  economics  which  no  one  has  yet 
succeeded  in  disproving.  That  efficiency  has  hitherto 
been  most  securely  attained  by  the  offer  of  material  ad- 
vantage is  the  experience  of  all  mankind ;  that  in  a  better 
and  wiser  condition  of  society  other,  purer,  and  more 
powerful  motives  might  be  found  is  an  attractive  possi- 
bility which  has  not  yet  reached  the  stage  of  probability. 
Whether  with  the  spread  of  education  and  the  creation  of 
a  true  and  universal  corporate  spirit  it  will  ever  be  possible 
to  replace  wealth  by  more  worthy  incentives  the  future 
alone  can  show.  The  present,  it  would  seem,  can  be  best 
employed  by  endeavouring  with  all  the  means  available 
to  increase  efficiency  by  improving  the  well-being  of  the 
people.  Already  important  steps  have,  as  we  have  seen, 
been  taken  to  this  end;  other  and  valuable  efforts  are  at 
present  being  made  by  all  the  civilized  nations  of  the  earth. 
The  end  is  not  yet,  and  the  years  that  lie  before  will  probably 
see  improvements  in  the  conditions  of  Hfe  which  at  the' time 
of  the  Reform  Bill  would  have  been  regarded  as  Utopian. 
Such  advances  will  not,  however,  be  secured  cheaply. 
The  spread  of  education,  the  increase  of  leisure,  the  per- 
fecting of  living  and  working  environments,  all  draw  either 

398 


TENDENCIES 

upon  the  pool  of  labour  from  which  all  wealth  comes  or 
directly  upon  the  wealth  thus  derived.  All  progress, 
therefore,  appears  to  depend  in  the  last  resort  neither 
upon  forms  of  government  nor  upon  the  desire  to  govern 
benignly,  but  upon  the  readiness  of  all  to  give  of  their  best 
in  brains  or  toil  in  the  directions  in  which  their  activities 
arc  devoted. 

The  End  and  the  Means 

But  even  assuming  that  the  whole  fabric  of  the  industrial 
organism  does  require  to  be  entirely  re-woven ;  even 
assuming  that  Mr  Webb  is  justified  in  making  his  dogmatic 
pronouncement  that  "  The  situation  which  has  to  be 
faced  is  that,  at  the  present  moment,  that  system  [the 
Capitalist  System],  as  a  coherent  whole,  has  demonstrably 
broken  down  " ;  ^  the  question  remains  in  what  manner 
the  change  is  to  be  effected. 

At  the  moment  the  civilized  world  is  presented  with 
two  alternatives.  Either  we  must  have  revolution  or  we 
must  allow  the  slower  but  more  sure  processes  of  evolution 
to  carry  us  through  to  the  destined  end. 

The  dangers,  the  miseries,  the  losses  involved  in  the 
acceptance  of  the  first  alternative  are  certain.  The  world 
has  experienced  them  not  once  but  many  times.  We  have 
seen,  not  once  but  many  times,  noble  aims  stirring  passions 
which,  once  aroused,  passed  beyond  control,  and  which 
resulted  in  excesses  and  atrocities  and  retrogressions 
very  different  from  the  ends  envisaged  by  the  men  who  set 
the  evil  thing  in  motion.  But  when  we  ask  for  what 
certainties  are  these  ascertained  and  known  evils  to  be 
suffered  we  find  ourselves  in  the  realm  not  of  fact  but  of 
opinion.  It  is  merely  this  or  that  man's  opinion  that  this 
or  that  advantage  will  accrue. 

Revolution  is  indeed  the  expression   of  active  opinion 

pressed  home  and  violently  enforced  by  the  few.     When 

once  an  opinion  has  been  adopted  by  the  many  so  that 

it  may  be  said  to  be  accepted,  it  no  longer,  in  a  democracy, 

^  A  Constitution  for  the  Socialist  Commonwealth  of  Great  Britain. 

399 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

becomes  necessary  to  resort  to  violent  means.  The  way 
is  clear,  the  tree  falls  of  its  own  weight  and  age  and  needs 
no  ruthless  hewing  away.  It  falls  because  it  is  rotten, 
not  because  somebody  thinks  that  it  is  rotten  and  ought  to 
be  cut  down. 

But  evolution  is  acceptable  as  a  policy  for  those  who 
believe  real  wrongs  exist  only  on  the  supposition  that  the 
opinion  of  the  many  is  the  dominant  factor  in  our  political 
life.  It  is  useless  to  look  to  evolution  to  remove  such 
wrongs  if  the  people,  though  needing  and  desiring  change, 
are  powerless  to  effect  that  change  by  the  peaceful  ex- 
pression of  their  desires.  Evolution  as  an  acceptable 
principle  to  modern  man  is  thus  dependent  on  the  effective- 
ness of  our  political  system  as  a  democratic  system.  It 
has  become  the  fashion  with  certain  thinkers  whose  minds 
are  bent  toward  the  Left  to  regard  modern  democracy 
as  a  snare  and  a  delusion.  But  we  ask  very  seriously 
the  questions :  Is  our  present  political  system  a  fraud  ? 
If  it  is,  why  is  it .'' 

Modern  Democracy 

Democracy,  in  the  true  sense,  as  a  system  of  government, 
is  a  thing  of  very  recent  growth.  England,  a  country 
that  may  be  regarded  as  a  political  pioneer,  has  only  within 
the  last  few  years  arrived  at  the  stage  of  adult  suffrage. 
Long  after  the  Reform  Bill  had  been  passed  political  power 
was  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  upper  and  middle 
classes.  When  at  length  the  masses  were  admitted  to  a 
share  in  the  direction  of  the  country's  destinies  it  was  only 
on  a  narrow  franchise,  seriously  impaired  as  regards  effective- 
ness by  the  very  real  powers  remaining  to  that  close 
corporation  the  House  of  Lords.  Even,  however,  with  a  very 
imperfect  form  of  democracy  as  yet  established,  with  all  the 
forces  of  bribery  and  intimidation  still  unloosed,  we  have  seen 
that  notable  advances  were  made  in  our  social  life  throughout 
the  middle  period  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Since  the  ex- 
tension of  the  franchise  and  the  strengthening  of  the  power 
of  the  House  of  Commons  have  been  effected,  political  power 
400 


I  TENDENCIES 

has  been  utilized  more  and  more  in  order  to  improve  the 
conditions  under  which  the  masses  Hve  and  work.  That 
such  is  the  fact  may  be  learnt  by  all  who  will  peruse  the 
Statute  Book,  by  all  who  will  contrast  the  conditions  of 
to-day  with  the  conditions  of  the  last  generation.  This 
fact  opposes  a  strong  argument  to  those  who  say  that  the 
people  can  find  no  hope  in  the  development  of  democracy, 
but  must  go  beyond  and  look  for  salvation  in  the  rude 
destruction  of  ordered  institutions. 

The  Hope  for  the  Future 

Even  as  we  see  little  gain  flowing  from  movements 
which  would  violently  interfere  with  political  development, 
so  also  the  tendency  toward  class  antagonism  so  clearly 
evident  to-day  is,  we  believe,  a  vicious  tendency.  There 
are,  it  is  true,  many  thousands  to-day  who  are  sympathetic 
toward  the  opening  words  of  the  constitution  of  the 
Industrial  Workers  of  the  World :  "  The  working  class  and 
the  employing  class  have  nothing  in  common."  The 
whole  trend  of  history  would  appear,  however,  to  show  that 
mankind  in  general,  and  the  masses  in  particular,  have 
reached  their  present  state,  a  state  immeasurably  superior  to 
that  of  primitive  man,  through  those  who  have  sought  to  raise 
up  the  unfortunate  rather  than  through  those  who  have 
endeavoured  to  pull  down  the  fortunate.  Evolution  has 
been  based  upon  sympathy  rather  than  upon  hate.  The 
fundamental  conceptions  of  those  who  would  level  by 
puUing  down  are  founded  in  hate,  and,  unless  we  are  to 
witness  a  reversal  of  the  processes  of  evolution,  cannot 
finally  prevail.  They  can,  however,  cause  grave  tem- 
porary troubles  and  can  place  a  clog  on  the  wheels  of 
progress. 

We  look  rather  to  the  general  spread  of  education,  true 
education  that  informs  the  mind  and  teaches  it  to  reason, 
as  the  great  hope  of  the  future.  Man  long  ages  ago 
emerged  as  the  grand  selected  animal  to  whom  the  power 
of  thought  and  ordered  analysis  of  causes  and  effects  was 
given.     Through  the  ages  he  has  toiled  along  the  road 

2  C  401 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 


I 


that  Nature  then  opened  to  him.  He  will  find  his  final 
salvation  when,  discarding  the  methods  of  the  brute,  he  at 
length  directs  his  course  of  action  according  to  his  reason, 
and  when  that  reason  is  cultivated  to  its  highest  and  is 
equipped  with  knowledge.  That  is  the  grand  movement 
that  will  most  surely  solve  our  present  ills. 


402 


A   LIST  OF   SELECTED   BOOKS 

The  following  short  list  gives  the  books  and  editions  which  it  is 
believed  will  prove  of  the  greatest  interest  to  the  general  reader. 
Blue  Books  and  official  publications  are  not  included,  A  good 
bibliography  of  such  publications,  which  are  extremely  numerous 
and  often  very  valuable,  will  be  found  in  the  Catalogue  of  the  Library 
of  the  Labour  Department  of  the  Board  of  Trade  (now  the  Ministry 
of  Labour). 

Adamson,  Professor  J.  W. 

A  Short  History  of  Education.     Cambridge  Univ.  Press.     1919. 
Ashley,  Sir  W.  J. 

Economic  Organisation  of  England.    Longmans.    London,  1 91 4. 

The  Beginnings  of  Town  Life  in  the  Middle  Ages.      1896.     Re- 
printed from  the  Quarterly  ^Journal  of  Economics,  Boston. 

The  Progress  of  the  German  Working  Classes  in  the  Last  Quarter 
of  a  Century.     Longmans.      London,  1904. 
Baines,  Sir  Edward 

History  of  the  Cotton  Manufacture.     London,  1836. 
Bamford,  Samuel 

Early  Days.     T.  Fisher  Unwin.     London,  1893. 
Bellet,  Daniel 

L' evolution  de  Pindustrie.     Paris,  19 14. 
BiNNs,  H.  B. 

A  Century  of  Education.     J.  M.  Dent  &  Sons.     London,  1908. 
Bland,  A.  E.,  Brown,  P,  A.,  and  Tawney,  R.  H. 

English  Economic  History — Select  Documents.   Bell.    Lond.  1 9 1 4. 
Bonar,  James 

Malthus  and  his  Work.     Macmillan.     London,  1885. 
BowEN,  Judge  Ivor 

The  Great  Enclosures  of  Common  Lands  in  Wales.     Chiswick 
Press.     London,  19 14. 
Brentano,  Professor  Lujo 

On  the  History  and  Development  of  Gilds  and  the  Origin  of 
Trade  Unions.     London,  Oxford,  1870. 

403 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Brown,  P.  A. — see  Bland,  A.  E, 
Bryce,  James,  Viscount 

Democracy.     Macmillan.     London,  1921. 
Buckland,  Professor  W.  W. 

The  Roman  Law  of  Slavery.     Cambridge  Univ.  Press.    1908. 
Butler,  J.  R.  M. 

The  Passing  of  the  Great  Reform  Bill.  Longmans.   Lond.    19 14. 
Carlton,  Professor  F.  T. 

History  and  Problems   of  Organised   Labour.       D.    C.    Heath 
&  Co.     Boston  and  London,  191 1. 
Chamberlayne,  Edward 

State  of  England  [Angliee  Notitia).     Various  editions  from  1 669 
onward. 
Chapman,  Sir  S.  J. 

fVork  and  IVages.     3  vols.     Longmans.     London,  1904-14. 

(Edited  by)  Labour  and  Capital  after  the  War     John  Murray. 
London,  1918, 
Clarke,  J.  J. 

The  Housing  Problem.     Pitman  &  Sons.     London,  1920. 
Commons,  J.  R. 

Trade  Unionism  and  Labor  Problems.    Selections  and  Documents 
in  Economics.     Ginn  &  Co.     Boston  and  London,  1905. 
Commons,  J.  R.,  and  Andrews,  J.  B. 

Principles    of    Labor     Legislation.     Harper's     Citizen    Series. 
Harper  &  Bros.     New  York  and  London,  1920. 

COULANGES,  FUSTEL  DE 

The  Ancient  City.     Translated  by  Willard  Small.     Simpkin, 
Marshall  &  Co.     London,  191 6. 
Craik,  W.  W. 

Short  History  of  the  Modem  British  Working-class  Movement. 
Plebs  League.     London,  19 19. 
Crapsey,  A.  S. 

The  Rise  of  the  Working  Class.  Century  Co.   New  York,  19 14. 
Crowther,  Samuel 

Why  Men  Strike.     G.  G.  Harrap  &  Co.     London,  1920. 
CULPIN,  E.  G. 

The  Garden  City  Movement  Up-to-date.     Garden  Cities  and 
Town  Planning  Association.     London,  191 3. 
Cunningham,  Archdeacon  William 

The  Grozvth  of  English  Industry  and  Commerce.     2  vols.     Cam- 
bridge University  Press.     191  o. 
404 


LIST   OF   SELECTED   BOOKS 

Cunningham,  Archdeacon  William 

The  Industrial  Revolution.      A  reprint  from  an  earlier  edition 
of  the  preceding  work.     Camb.  Univ.  Press.      1908. 
Cunningham,  Archdeacon  William,  and  MacArthur,  E.  A. 

Outlines  of  English  Industrial  History.     Cambridge  Historical 
Series.     Cambridge  University  Press.      1895. 
Dulac,  Albert — see  Renard,  Georges 
Eckel,  E.  C. 

Coal,  Iron,  and  War.     G.  G.  Harrap  &  Co.     London,  1921. 
Eden,  Sir  F.  M. 

The  State  of  the  Poor.     London,  1797. 
Emery,  J.  A. — see  Schwedtman,  F.  C. 
Engels,  Frederick 

The  Condition  of  the  Working  Class  in  England  in  1844.     Swan 
Sonnenschein  &  Co.     London,  1892. 
Ernle,  Lord — see  Prothero,  R.  E. 
Fagniez,  Gustave 

Essai  sur  P organisation  de  Industrie  a  Paris  aux  xiii'  et  xiv' 
siecles.     Paris,  1839. 
Farnborough,  Lord — see  May,  T.  E. 
Fay,  C.  R. 

Life  and  Labour  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,     Cambridge  Uni- 
versity Press.      1920. 
Fielden,  John 

The  Curse  of  the  Factory  System.     London,  1836. 
Galloway,  R.  L. 

Annals  of  Coal  Mining  and  the  Coal  Trade.     Colliery  Guardian 
Co.     London,  1898,  1904. 
Gaskell,  p. 

The  Manufacturing  Population  of  England.     London,  1833. 

GiBBINS,  H.  DE  B, 

Economic  and  Industrial  Progress  of  the  Century.     The  Nine- 
teenth Century  Series.     London,  1903. 
Green,  F.  E. 

J  History  of  the  English  Agricultural  Labourer,  i8yo-ig2o. 
P.  S.  King  &  Co.     London,  1920. 
Green,  J.  R. 

J  Short  History  of  the  English  People.  Macmillan.   Lond.  1917, 
Gross,  Professor  Charles 

The  Gild  Merchant :  A  Contribution  to  British  Municipal  History. 
2  vols.     Clarendon  Press.     Oxford,  1890. 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

Halevy,  Elie 

Histotre  dii  peuple  anglais  an  xix'  Steele.      Paris,  1 91 2. 
Hammond,  J,  L.  Le  B.,  and  Barbara 

The  Skilled  Labourer,  1260-1832.     Longmans.     Lond,   1919. 
The  Fillage  Labourer,  1760-1832.     Longmans.     Lond.   1920. 
The  Town   Labourer,  1760-1832.       Longmans.    Lond.  19 17. 
Harrison,  William  ' 

Elizabethan  England.     Edition  edited  by  Lothrop  Withrington. 
The  Camelot  Classics.     London,  1886,  etc.  ^| 

Has  BACH,  W. 

j1  History  of  the  English  Agricultural  Labourer.     Translated 
by  Ruth  Kenyon.      P.  S.  King  &  Co.     London,  1908. 
Howard,  Ebenezer  ™ 

Garden  Cities  of  To-morrow.     Sonnenschein.    London,  1902. 
To-morrow  :  A  Peaceful  Path  to  Social  Reform.     Swan  Sonnen- 
schein &  Co.     London,  1898. 
HuTCHiNS,  B.  L.,  and  Harrison,  A. 

A  History  of  Factory  Legislation.     P.  S.  King.      London,  1911. 
The  Public  Health  Agitation,  1833-48.    Fifield.  London,  1909. 
Leach,  A.  F. 

English  Schools  at  the  Reformation.     Constable.     London,  1896 
The  Schools  of  Medieval  England.     Methuen.     London,  19 15. 
Levasseur,  Emile 

Histoire  des  classes  ouvrieres  et  de  Vindustrie  en  France  avant 

lySg.     Paris,  1900. 
Histoire  des  classes  ouvrieres  et  de  findustrie  de  ijSg  a  i8yo. 

Paris,  1903. 
The  American  Workman.     Translated  by  T.  S.  Adams.     John 
Hopkins  Press.     Baltimore,  1900. 
Levy,  J.  H. 

Individualism  and  the  Land  Question.     Personal  Rights  Series, 
No.  5.    The  Personal  Rights  Association     London,  191 2. 
Lewinski,  J.  S. 

U evolution  industrielle  de  la  Belgique.     Brussels,  19 11. 
•  Macaulay,  Lord 

The  History  of  England. 
Macdonald,  J.  Ramsay 

The  Social  Unrest.     T.  N.  Foulis.     London,   19 13. 
Mackay,  Thomas 

A  History  of  the  English  Poor  Law.     P.  S.King  &  Co.     London, 
1899.       Vol.    iii    published    1899.      For    vols,    i-ii    see 
Nicholls,  Sir  George. 
406 


LIST  OF  SELECTED   BOOKS 

Maine,  Sir  H.  S. 

Ancient   Law.     John  Murray.     London,  1901.     Included  in 
Everyman's  Library  (Dent  &  Sons,  London). 
Mantoux,  p. 

La     rivolution     industrielle    au    xviii^     Steele     [in    England]. 
Paris,  1906. 
Marshall,  Professor  Alfred 

Elements  of  Economics  of  Industry.    Macmillan.     London,  1899. 
May,  T.  E.  (Lord  Farnborough) 

The  Constitutional  History  of  England.  Longmans.    Lond.  1912. 
i  MiLNES,  Alfred 

'  From  Gild  to  Factory.     Macdonald  &  Evans.     London,  1920. 

i  Money,  Sir  Leo  Chiozza 

The  Trium-ph  of  Nationalisation.     Cassell.     London,  1920. 
Montmorency,  J.  E.  G.  de 

State  Intervention  in  English  Education.  Camb.  Univ.  Press.  1902. 
NicHOLLS,  Sir  George 

J  History  of  the  English  Poor  Law.        Vols,  i  and  ii.       P.  S. 
King.    London,  1 854.    For  vol.  iii  see  Mackay,  Thomas. 
Perris,  G.  H. 

The   Industrial  History   of  Modern   England.      Kegan    Paul. 
London,  19 14. 
Pollock,  Sir  Frederick,  and  Maitland,  F.  W. 

The  History  of  English   Law  before  the   Time  of  Edward  7. 
Cambridge  University  Press.     1898. 
Porter,  G.  R, 

The  Progress  of  the  Nation,     1838.     New  edition,  edited  by 
F.  W.  Hirst.     Methuen.     London,  191 2. 
Prothero,  R.  E.  (Lord  Ernle) 

English  Farming  Past  and  Present.     Longmans.    London,  1 9 1 7. 
Renard,  Georges,  and  Dulac,  Albert 

U evolution    industrielle   et   agricole  depuis  cent  cinquante  ans. 

Paris,  191 2. 
Histoire  universelle  du  travail.     Paris,  1 9 1 2. 
Robertson,  John 

Housing  and  the  Public  Health.     English  Public  Health  Series. 
Cassell.     London,  19 19. 
Rogers,  J.  E.  Thorold 

Six  Centuries  of  JVork  and  Wages.    Sonnenschein.    Lond.  1890. 
A  History  of  Agriculture  and  Prices  in  England.  7  vols.    Claren- 
don Press.     Oxford,  1 866-1 902. 
Savage,  Dr  W.  G. 

Rural  Housing.     T.  Fisher  Unw^in.     London,  19 19. 

407 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 

ScHWEDTMAN,  F.  C,  and  Emery,  J.  A. 

Accident    Prevention    and    Relief.      National    Association    o| 
Manufacturers,  U.S.A.     191 1. 
Smith,  J.  Toulmin,  and  Miss  Toulmin  Smith 

English  Gilds.     Early  English  Text  Society.     London,  1870. 
Snowden,  Philip 

A  Living  Wage.     Hodder  &  Stoughton.     London,  1 9 1 2. 
Stone,  Gilbert 

The  British  Coal  Industry.     Dent  &  Sons.      London,  19 19. 
Tawney,  R.  H. — see  Bland,  A.  E. 
Taylor,  R.  W.  C. 

Introduction  to  a  History  of  the  Factory  System.     Richard  Bentley 
&  Son.     London,  1886. 
Taylor,  W.  C. 

Notes  of  a  Tour  in  the  Manufacturing  Districts  of  Lancashire. 
London,  1842. 

Factories  and  the  Factory  System.    Jeremiah  How.    Lond.  1844. 
Toynbee,  Arnold 

Lectures  on  the  Industrial  Revolution  in  England.     Rivingtons. 
London,  1887. 
Traill,  H,  D.,  and  Mann,  J.  S. 

Social  England.     Cassell.     London,  190 1-4, 
Usher,  Dr  A.  P. 

An  Introduction  to  the  Industrial  History  of  England.     G.  G. 
Harrap  &  Co.     London,  1920. 
Veitch,  G.  S. 

The  Genesis  of  Parliamentary  Reform.    Constable.    Lond.  191 3. 
Warner,  G.  T. 

Tillage^  Trade^  and  Invention.     Blackie.      London,  1920. 

Landmarks  in  English  Industrial  History.    Blackie.   Lond.  1899. 
Webb,  S.  J.  and  Beatrice 

The  History  of  Trade  Unionism.     Longmans.    London,  1920. 

English  Local  Government.  3  vols.    Longmans.  London,  1906. 

Industrial  Democracy.     Longmans.     London,  1908, 
Wing,  Charles 

The  Evils  of  the  Factory  System.     London,  1837. 


408 


INDEX 


Abelard,  156 

Accident  Law,  the  German,  372 

Adamson,  Professor  J.  W.,  366 

Addison,  Joseph,  169 

Agrarian    changes,    medieval,     112, 

139  ;    cause  increase  of  poverty, 

112. 
Agrarian   Revolution,    175    et    seq.  ; 

due   to   enclosures,    177  ;     general 

results  of,  193 
Agriculture,    in    eighteenth   century, 

175  et  seq. ;  in  Middle  Ages,  137 
Allotments,  192 
Allowance  system,  131 
America,  education  in,  161  ;   factory 

legislation  in,  319  ;   slavery  in,  64  ; 

trade  unions  in,  230 
Anselm,  156 
Apprentices,  age  limit  for,  in  mines, 

302  ;  and  the  butty  system,  301  ; 

conditions      under     which     they 

worked,  302  ;    control  of,  by  gild, 

78  ;   limitation  of  number  of,  83  ; 

Statute  of,  104,  108 
Apprenticeship,  deeds  of,  84  ;    evils 

of,  301  ;    of  pauper  children,  301  ; 

period  of,  83  ;    State  interference 

with,    85  ;     term    of,    fixed,    108  ; 

term'  of,  in  mines,  limited  by  Lord 

Ashley's  Act,  302 
Arnold,  Matthew,  163,  164,  354 
Ashley,  Lord,  293,  295,  298,  300,  302, 

309,    336.     See    also    Shaftesbury, 

Earl  of 
Asquith,  H.  H.,  284,  373,  375>  3»3 
Attwood,  Thomas,  252,  270,  271 

Bacon,  Lord,  160 

Ball,  John,  57 

Bamford,  Samuel,  197,  202 

Baxter,  Richard,  167 

Beaumanoir,  Philippe  de,  48 

Becket,  Thomas,  156 

Bell,  Andrew,  170 

Bentham,    Jeremy,    179,   252,    265, 

330 


Binns,  H.  B.,  362 

Birmingham  Political  Union,  forma- 
tion of,  270  ;   object  of,  270 

Black  Death,  consequences  of,  54,  ii2 

Boileau,  fitienne,  82 

Bolingbroke,  Lord,  302 

Bowen,  Judge  Ivor,  177 

Brampton,  Lord,  375 

Brentano,  Dr  Lujo,  66,  67 

Brougham,  Lord,  168,  170,  171,  172, 
173,  271,  348,358,  364 

Buckland,  Professor  W.  W.,  31 

Burke,  Edmund,  242,  253,  258,  259, 
260 

Burnside,  Mr  Justice,  292 

Burt,  Thomas,  236 

Butler,  J.  R.  M.,  265,  269 

Cadbury,  George,  336,  345 

Canning,  George,  268,  367 

Carlton,  Professor  F.  T.,  64,  231,  232, 

385 
Cartwright,  John,  252,  258,  261,  265 
Catholic    Emancipation,    268  ;     Bill 

passed,  269 
Chamberlain,  Joseph,  373 
Chamberlayne,   Edward,    138,     148, 

151,  195 
Chapman,  Sir  Sydney,  217,  229 

Charters,  town,  52 

Chatham,  Lord,  256,  257 

Child,  average  day  of,  account  of,  208  ; 
the  workhouse,  207 

Child  labour,  and  chimney-sweeping, 
213  ;  hours  of,  208,  294  ;  illegal  in 
mines  underground,  302  ;  in 
factories,  308,  309  ;  in  mines,  207, 
300  ;  not  affected  by  first  Factory 
Act,  291  ;  parish,  exploitation  of, 
207 

Chimney-sweeps,  the  Lords  and  the, 

213 
Clarke,  J.  J.,  335,  34i 
Gierke,  Sir  P.  J.,  258,  260 
Clothing,  about  1800,  202  ;  in  Middle 

Ages,    142 

409 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 


Coal  Industry  Commission  and 
nationalization,  388 

Cobbett,  William,  261,  265,  266,  269, 
270,  271,  276 

Cobden,  Richard,  334 

Colbert,  J.  B.,  149,  150,  218,  228, 
229  ;  his  system  of  regulation,  150 

Colet,  Dean,  159 

Collegia,  development  of,  28 ;  whether 
gilds  descended  from,  66 

Combinations,  Act  against,  loi  ; 
early,  75,  88.  See  also  Gilds,  Trade 
unions 

Combination  laws,  225  ;  abolition  of. 
Place's  struggle  for,  232  ;  repeal  of, 
235  ;   repeal  of,  results  of,  235 

Comenius,  159,  161 

Commons,  114 

Compensation  under  Enclosure  Acts, 
185 

Compensation,  workmen's,  375 ;  com- 
pulsory, 377 ;  effect  of,  377  ;  English 
system  of,  373  ;  for  diseases  special 
to  certain  employments,  378 ;  under 
German  Accident  Law,  372  ;  objects 
of,  375  ;  social  gains  from,  377  ; 
to  whom  applied,  376 

Condorcet,  Marquis  de,  162,  211, 
352 

Conspiracy,  law  of,  236 

Co-operative  movement,  397 

Corry,  M.  W.  L.,  340.  See  also  Row- 
ton,  Baron 

Craik,  W.  W.,  239 

Crewe's  Bill,  260 

Cross,  R.  Assheton  (later  Viscount), 
311,  338 

Cross  Acts,  337 

Cunningham,  Archdeacon  William, 
117,  119,  203 


Davenant,  Charles,  140 

Day,  Mr  Justice,  339 

Democracy,  modern,  400 

Dickens,  Charles,  215,  301 

Direct  action,  241 

Distress,     and      laissez-faire,      334  ; 

caused    by    enclosures,     193  ;     of 

cotton     weavers,     209.     See     also 

Poverty,  Poor  Law 
Domestic  manufacturers,  72,  97,  137  ; 

disappearance  of ,  175 
Dominus,  26;  power  of,  27 
Dowdeswell,  William,  257 
Dulac,  Albert,  195 
Dundas,  Henry,  264 


Dunning,  John  (Baron   Ashburton), 

259 
Durham,    Earl    of,    267.     See    also 

Lambton,  J.  G. 

Eden,  Sir  Frederick  Morton,  56,  60, 
91,  135,  138,  142,  179,  180,  181, 
189,  192 

Education:  Act  of  1870,  362;  and 
Lollard  movement,  156 ;  before 
nineteenth  century,  chapter  on, 
153  et  seq.  ;  Brougham's  Bill  for, 
358  ;  Bryce  Commission  of  1895 
on,  365  ;  Church  control  of,  155  ; 
effect  of  Reformation  on,  158;  in 
America,  161  ;  in  Brito-Roman 
schools,  153  ;  in  England  in  nine- 
teenth century,  170,  355  et  seq.; 
in  France,  163,  352  ;  in  Germany, 
348  ;  in  Middle  Ages,  145,  154  ; 
modem,  chapter  on,  348  et  seq.  ; 
national  system  developed,  366  ; 
Parliament's  attitude  toward,  211  ; 
report  of  Newcastle  Commission  on, 
351,  359;  results  of  voluntary 
activity  in,  359 ;  Roebuck's  speech 
on,  355 ;  State  and,  in  Middle 
Ages,  157  ;  State  grants  aid,  356; 
State  grants  for,  increase  in,  358; 
under  Commonwealth  Government, 
161  ;  under  Elizabeth,  159;  Uni- 
versity extension  movement,  364 ; 
voluntary  activity  in,  357;  volun- 
tary system  and  Lord  Brougham, 
172 

Efficiency,  need  for,  398  ;  of  State 
control,  391 

Emancipation,  Catholic,  268  ;  of  the 
serfs,  44  et  seq.  ;  of  the  slaves,  44 
et  seq.  ;  of  the  towns,  46,  49 

Enclosure :  Acts,  1 77 ;  awards  or  com- 
pensation, 185  ;  commissioners, 
185  ;  distress  caused  by,  193  ; 
facilitated  mineral  development, 
181  ;  legislation,  tendency  of,  212  ; 
motives  for,  178  ;  movement, 
advantages  of,  179;  movement, 
early,  112,  116  ;  movement,  nature 
of,  176  ;  movement,  Parliament  at 
time  of,  181  ;  movement,  second, 
175  et  seq.  ;  opposition  to,  ineffec- 
tive, 184  ;  private  Bill  legislation 
and,  183  ;  remedial  proposals  for, 
192  ;    resulting  evils  of,  188 

Enfranchisement — see  Emancipation 

Epictetus,  a  slave,  30 

Erasmus,  159 


410 


INDEX 


Factory,  agitation  for  ten-hour  day 
in,  294;  chapter  on,  285  et  seq.; 
child  labour  in,  308,  309  ;  con- 
dition of,  210  ;  condition  of  work 
in,  295  ;  legislation  in  America, 
319  ;  legislation  in  Belgium,  319; 
legislation  in  England,  285  et 
seq.  ;  legislation  in  France,  315  ; 
legislation  in  Switzerland,  319  ; 
legislation,  State  interference  and, 
307 ;  relay  system  in,  308  ; 
spiritual  losses  resulting  from, 
206 

Factory  Acts,  290 ;  female  labour 
and,  304  ;  first,  conditions  of,  290  ; 
list  of,  287  ;  principles  of,  314  ; 
Reform  Association  organized, 
310 

Fagniez,  Gustave,  51,  66 

Famborough,  Lord,  128 

Farrar,  Dean,  249 

Fay,  C.  R.,  329 

Fealty,  form  of  oaths  of,  36 

Female  labour,  299,  304  ;  abolished 
in  mines  underground,  302,  304  ; 
and  Factory  Acts,  304 ;  protection 
of,  300 

Feudal  system,  a  social  system,  38  ; 
based  on  land-ownership,  33  ; 
central  idea  of,  36  ;  spirit  of,  212. 
See  also  Manor,  Lord 

Fielden,  John,  211,  293,  295 

Fisher,  H.  A.  L.,  366 

Fleming,  Contarini,  23 

Flood,  Henry,  263 

Food  in  Middle  Ages,  139 

Fox,  C.  J.,  261 

France,  education  in,  163,  352  ; 
expansion  of  industry  in,  149  ; 
factory  legislation  in,  313,  315  et 
seq.  ;  housing  improvements  in, 
339 ;  industrial  society  in,  struc- 
ture of,  82  ;  industry  of,  in 
Middle  Ages,  149;  trade  unions 
in,  228 

Franchise,  borough,  255  ;  extension 
of,  283  ;  forms  of,  255  ;  unequal 
distribution  of,  253 

Francis,  Sir  Philip,  253 

French  Revolution,  excesses  of,  226 

Friendly  Societies,  76  ;  Labourers' 
Friend  Society,  329 


Games  in  the  Middle  Ages,  148 
Gaskell,  P.,  138,  142,  198 
George,  D.  Lloyd,  380 


Germany,  Accident  Law  of,  372  ; 
education  in,  348  ;  town-planning 
in,  343  ;   trade  unions  in,  237 

Giddy,  Davies,  211 

Gild(s),  and  apprentices,  83;  Bever- 
ley, 70  ;  chapter  on,  66  et  seq.;  com- 
parison of  present-day  industrial 
system  and  gild  system,  288  ;  con- 
fiscation of  property  of,  80  ;  con- 
trol of  labour  by,  78  ;  craft,  69, 
71  ;  decline  of,  81  ;  distinction 
between,  and  trade  unions,  66,  69  ; 
free  towns  and,  66  ;  free  trade  and, 
51  ;  general  nature  and  purposes 
of,  68,  69  ;  importance  of,  79  ;  in 
capacity  of  friendly  society,  78  ; 
influence  of,  66  ;  journeymen  and, 
89  ;  King's  license  not  necessary 
for,  69  ;  merchant,  69  ;  origin  of, 
67  ;  policy  of,  83  ;  protective 
organization  of,  51,  69,  75,  83  ; 
regulation  of,  71,  72,  73  ;  schools 
of.  79,  145,  155;  types  of,  69; 
whether  descendants  of  collegia,  66 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  237 

Goderich  ministry,  268 

Gordon,  Mr  Justice,  292 

Gouge,  Thomas,  168 

Graham,  Sir  James,  359 

Green,  J.  R.,  142,  281 

Grey,  Lord,  267,  269,  270,  274,  276 
et  seq.  ;  and  the  Reform  Bill,  274, 
275;  fall  of,  279  ;  return  to  power, 
280 

Grose,  Mr  Justice,  292 

Gross,  Professor  Charles,  72,  79 

Guinness,  Sir  E.  C.,  336,  340.  See 
also  Iveagh,  Lord 

Guizot,  F.  P.  G.,  354 


Hall,  Sir  Benjamin,  337 

Halliday,  Thomas,  374 

Hammond,  J.  L.  Le  B.  and  Barbara, 

23,  143 
Harigild  money,  61 
Harrison,  William,  138,  140,  147,  159, 

175 

Hartshorn,  Vernon,  292 

Harvard,  John,  161 

Hasbach,  Dr  W.,  179 

Haverfield,  Professor,  153 

Health  Insurance,  378 

Homage,  mode  of  doing,  36 

Home,  chapter  on,  325  et  seq.  ; 
environment  at  commencement 
of  Victoria's  reign,  325  ;  environ- 

411 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 


ment  and  Lord  Shaftesbury,  333  ; 
general  conditions  of,  326  ;  sani- 
tary conditions  of,  328  ;  state  of, 
in  Metropolis,  327,  330 

Home,  John,  257.  See  also  Tooke, 
Home 

Hours  of  work,  88,  152  ;  fixed  by 
Statute  of  Apprentices,  105  ;  State 
regulation  of,  in  fifteenth  century, 

95 

Household  budget,  a,  189 

Houses,  contents  of,  in  Middle  Ages, 
135,  143  ;  description  of,  in  Middle 
Ages,  142  ;  general  conditions  of, 
at  commencement  of  Victoria's 
reign,  326  ;  local  authorities  given 
power  to  inspect  and  condemn, 
337 ;  of  present  day,  346  ;  over- 
crowding in,  due  to  lack  of  trans- 
port, 333  ;   water  supply  in,  332 

Housing,  Act  of  1890,  341  ;  Act  of 
1909,  342,  344  ;  Acts,  working  of 
earlier,  339  ;  back-to-back  system, 
327  ;  conditions  at  commence- 
ment of  Victoria's  reign,  325  ;  con- 
ditions in  London  in  1884,  327  ; 
conditions  in  provinces,  327; 
Continental  schemes  of,  343  ;  early 
measures  for  better  conditions  of, 
336;  first  reformers  of,  336;  garden 
city  movement,  345  ;  general 
conditions  of,  326 ;  in  rural  districts, 
346 ;  private  benefactors,  339  ; 
proposals  of  1885,  341  ;  report  of 
Royal  Commission  on,  341  ;  sani- 
tary conditions,  328  ;  Town-plan- 
ning Act  of  1909,  342  ;  Lord 
Shaftesbury  and,   conditions,  329 

Howard,  Ebenezer,  336,  345,  346 

Hume,  Joseph,  233 

Hume's  Committee,  210,  228,   230, 

233 
Hunt,  Henry,  arrest  of,  266 
Huskisson,  William,  269 

Industrial  areas,  development  of, 
202 

Industrial  life,  conditions  of,  con- 
sidered in  Peace  Treaty,  321 

Industrial  Revolution,  absence  of 
stable  combinations  before,  220  ; 
attitude  of  unreformed  Parliament 
toward,  211  ;  changes  due  to,  203  ; 
chapter  on,  195  et  seq.  ;  displace- 
ment of  population  by,  201  ;  lack 
of  sympathy  of  governing  classes 
toward,  212  ;  material  gains  from, 

412 


205  ;  meaning  of,  196 ;  standard 
of  life  at  time  of,  198 

Industry,  nature  of  early,  45, 
82  ;  of  France  in  Middle  Ages, 
149  ;  regulation  of  mining,  303  ; 
State's  interference  with  rival 
forces  in,  218  ;  State  regulation  of, 
286,  288  ;  sweated,  conditions  of 
work  in,  288 

Insurance,  Act  passed,  380  ;  com- 
pulsory, 372;  National  Health,  379 

Irnerius,  156 

Italy,  town-planning  in,  343 

Iveagh,  Lord,  340.  See  also  Guin- 
ness, Sir  E.  C. 

Jeffrey,  Francis,  266 

Jenkins,  Sir  Leoline,  60 

Johnston,  Sir  H.  H.,  62,  63 

Joubert,  Ambroise,  316 

Journeyman,  86  et  seq.  ;  a  gild 
brother,  89  ;  control  of,  by  gild, 
78  ;  hire,  term  of,  for,  86  ;  hire, 
term  of,  fixed,  102  ;  hiring  of,  87  ; 
meaning  of  term,  86  ;  wages  of, 
88.  See  also  Wages,  Hours  of 
work 

Justices,  their  power  to  fix  wages, 
91,  104,  105 

Kenyon,  Lord,  172 

King,  Lord,  214 

Kyffin-Taylor,  General  Gerald,  326 

Labour,  cheap,  299  ;  conditions  as 
to,  in  Peace  Treaty,  321  et  seq.; 
dearth  of  agricultural,  113;  female, 
299,  304  ;  female,  protection  of, 
300  ;  female  and  child,  and  Lord 
Ashley's  Act,  302  ;  hired,  37,  42  ; 
hours  of,  208  ;  hours  of,  in  mines, 
300;  in  Tudor  times,  100;  regula- 
tion of  hours  of,  95.  See  also 
Journeyman,  Hours  of  work.  Wages 

Labour  Party,  becomes  notable  force 
in  twentieth  century,  239 

Labourers,  Statute  of,  55 

Laissez-faire,  distress  and,  334 ; 
resulting  evils  of  system  of,  285 ; 
theory  of,  in  England,  223 

Lambton,  J.  G.,  267,  268.  See  also 
Durham,  Earl  of 

Lancaster,  Joseph,  170 

Land-holding,  feudal  system  of,  114 

Lanfranc,  156 

Lansdowne,  Marquess  of,  261.  See 
also  Shelbume,  Lord 


I 


INDEX 


La  Salle,  J.  B.,  165,  1 68 

Lauderdale,  Earl  of,  214 

Laurence,  Edward,  1 75 

Leach,  A.  P.,  158 

Learning,  state  of,  in  Middle  Ages, 

145  ;    State  and,  157 
Legislation,    factory,    286    et    seq.  ; 

labour,    and    Peace    Treaty,  321  ; 

private   Bill,    183  ;     Tudor,    100  ; 

Tudor,  effect  of,  no 
Levasseur,  fimile,  45,  53,  66,  67,  88, 

97>  152 
Leverhulme,  Lord,  336,  345 
Levy,  J.  H.,  177 
Lister,  Jebe,  57 
Liverpool,  Lord,  268 
Localities,  trade,  98 
Lollards,  156  ;   education  movement 

of,  157,  158 

London  Corresponding  Society,  265 

Lords,  and  townsmen,  52  ;  free  ser- 
vice for,  37  ;  manorial,  37,  43,  48  ; 
powers  of,  over  serf,  43,  48  ;  rights 
of,  43  ;  struggle  between  serf  and, 
44  et  seq.     See  also  Dominus 

Lowe,  Robert  (Viscount  Sherbrooke), 
362 

Lowell,  Francis,  230 

Luther,  Martin,  158,  159 


Macaulay,   Lord,   23  ;     and    cheap 

labour,  299 
Macdonald,  Alexander,  236 
Machinery,   changes  caused   by   de- 
velopment of,  202  ;    introduction 
of,  results  of,  204 
Mackay,  Thomas,  367 
Macnamara,  T.  J.,  361,  364 
Maine,  Sir  Henry,  25 
Maitland,  Professor  F.  W.,  36 
Manning,  Cardinal  H.  E.,  339 
Manor,  the,  37,  114  ;    industry  shifts 
from,  to  the  town,  46  ;  labour  and, 

37 

Manorial  courts,  43 

Manorial  lords — see  Lords 

Manorial  system,  37 

Mantoux,  P.,  197 

Map,  Walter,  157 

Marshall,  Professor  Alfred,  217 

Master,  26  ;  obligations  of,  99  ; 
penalties  for  failure  of,  to  fulfil 
obligations,  99  ;  privilege  of 
becoming,  97  ;  relation  between 
medieval,  and  workmen,  97.  See 
also  Dominus,  Lords 


Master  worker,  the,  82  et  seq. 

Maurice,  F.  D.,  365 

Medieval      period — see      Education, 

Poor  Law,  Labour,  Slavery,  Wages, 

etc. 
Melanchthon,  Philip,  159 
Merton,  Statute  of,  113,  116 
Middle  class,  rise  of,  57 
Migration    of    labour,    restricted    in 

fifteenth  century,  92,  96 
Millerand,  Alexandre,  373 
Mines,  Commission  for  Inquiring  into 

the  Condition  of  Children  Employed 

in,  300  ;    conditions  of  labour  in, 

300  ;   child  labour  in,  300  ;   female 

labour  in,  300 
Minimum  wage,  380  ;   Australia  and, 

383 ;  first  attempt  to  secure,  108  ; 

in  coal-mines,  383  ;  State  and,  382 
Mining  industry,  led  way  in  industrial 

legislation,    303  ;     regulation     of, 

302 
Money,  Sir  L.  C,  392 
Montmorency,  J.  E.  G.  de,  156,  159, 

162 
More,  Sir  Thomas,  159 
Moryson,  Fynes,  142 
Muensterberg,  Dr  E.,  379 
Muir,  Thomas,  264  ;    activity  of,  for 

Parliamentary  reform,  265 

Naif,  35.     See  also  Serf 

Nationalization,  definitions  of  term, 
386  ;  efficiency  the  test  of,  389  ; 
of  coal  industry,  387  ;  of  indus- 
tries, 386 

Nicholls,  Sir  George,  367 

North,  Lord,  261 

Oastler,  Richard,  293,  295 
O'Connell,  Daniel,  268,  269,  271 
Owen,  Robert,  293,  329 

Page,  William,  158 

Palmer,  T.  F.,  265 

Parliament,  and  Reform  Bill,  276, 
277  ;  at  time  of  enclosure  move- 
ment, 181  ;  bribery  of  members  of, 
254  ;  corruption,  of  253  ;  early 
reformers  of,  257  ;  economic 
reformers  of,  258  ;  feudal  spirit  of, 
212  ;  institution  of,  252  ;  new  Re- 
form, 278  ;  property,  not  persons, 
represented  in,  256  ;  unreformed, 
253  ;  unreformed,  attitude  of,  to 
the  poor,  211 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 


Pattison,  Mark,  349,  350 
Pauper,  the — see  Poverty 
Peabody,  George,  336,  340 
Peace    Treaty,    advances    the    well- 
being    of    workers,    320  ;     labour 
legislation  of,  323  ;    provisions  of, 
concerning  labour,  320 

Peasant,  dispossession  of,  116,  175 
et  seq. 

Peasants'  Rebellion,  56 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  269  ;  opposes 
Catholic  emancipation,  268 

Pensions,  Old  Age,  384 

Pepo, 156 

Percival,  Dr,  289,  291 

Pilgrim  Fathers,  i6i 

Pitt,  Thomas,  259 

Pitt,  William,  252,  254,  261,  265  ; 
Reform  Bill  of,  262  ;  repressive 
measures  of,  264 

Place,  Francis,  228,  231,  232  et  seq., 
237,  252,261,265,266,270,271,276 

Pollard,  Professor,  118 

Pollock,  Sir  Frederick,  36 

Poor,  the  spirit  of  the,  145 

Poor  Law,  abuses  of,  128  ;  allowance 
system  under,  131  ;  Commission, 
report  of,  369 ;  condition  of,  in 
1905,  371  ;  effect  of,  367;  Eliza- 
bethan, 125  et  seq.  ;  maladminis- 
tration of,  128  ;  pauperization  and, 
128,  129;  reform  of,  369;  schools 
under,  160;   workhouse  and,  132 

Poor  Law  Commissioners,  aims  of, 
369  ;   report  of  (1905-9),  369 

Poor  rate  in  1685,  138 

Population,  displacement  of,  in  thir- 
teenth and  fourteenth  centuries, 
54 ;  displacement  of,  in  eighteenth 
and  nineteenth  centuries,  201  ; 
growth  of,  136,  199;  causes  for 
growth  of,  199 

Poverty,  attack  on,  367  et  seq. ; 
chapter  on,  in  et  seq.;  due  to 
sickness,  378  ;  effect  of  workmen's 
compensation  on,  377;  increase 
of,  due  to  agrarian  changes,  112; 
other  causes  of,  119;  Old  Age 
pensions  and,  384.  See  also  Dis- 
tress, Poor  Law 

Raikes,  Robert,  169 

Ratke,  Wolfgang,  159 

Reform,  Parliamentary,  Blandford's 
Bill  for,  271  ;  chapter  on,  252  et 
seq.;  of  House  of  Lords,  284; 
Lambton's     measures     for,     268 ; 

414 


methods  of  suppressing,  265 ; 
need  for,  266  ;  opposition  to,  263  ; 
Pitt's  Bill  for,  262  ;  Pitt's  sup- 
pression of  societies  for,  264 ; 
public  opinion  and,  269  ;  radical, 
261  et  seq. ;  results  of,  281  ; 
Russell's  Bills  for,  268,  271 ;  subse- 
quent history  of  movement,  283  ; 
Tories'  attitude  toward,  272  ; 
Wellington's  speech  on,  272 

Reform  Bill,  dissolution  of  Parlia- 
ment over,  277;  Government  draft 
of,  275 ;  introduction  of,  275 ; 
Lord  Grey  and,  274  ;  passing  of, 
280  ;    Pitt  introduces  a,  262 

Reformation,  158  ;  effect  of,  on  edu- 
cation, 158 

Renard,  Georges,  195 

Restoration,  the,  166 

Revolution,  Agrarian,  chapter  on, 
175  et  seq.;  general  results  of 
Agrarian,  193;  Industrial,  195  et 
seq. ;  results  of  Industrial,  205  ; 
French,  excesses  of,  226  ;   Russian, 

389 
Riecke,  Dr  V.  A.,  144 
Robertson,  Dr  John,  344 
Rockingham,  Lord,  260,  261 
Roebuck,  J.  A.,  348,  355,  363 
Rogers,  J.  E.  Thorold,  120,  121,  125, 

212 
Roman  Empire,  decline  of,  33 
Romilly,  Sir  Samuel,  207 
Roscellinus,  156  ► 

Rowton,  Baron,  336,  340.     See  also 

Corry,  M.  W.  L. 
Ruegg,  Judge,  219 
Russell,  Lord  John,  268, 269,  271, 273, 

275 
Russian  Revolution,  389 

Sadler,  M.  T.,  293,  295,  296 

Sanitation,  condition  of,  in  nine- 
teenth century,  328  ;  early  efforts 
toward,  58,  144  ;   reform  of,  326 

Savage,  Dr  W.  G.,  346 

Sawbridge,  John,  257 

Schools,  charity,  167  ;  factory',  con- 
dition of,  360;  gild,  155;  table 
showing  average  attendance  at, 
360;    voluntary,  167 

Serf(s),  a  chattel,  39 ;  condition  of, 
40 ;  condition  of  child  of,  41  ; 
difference  between  slave  and,  35  ; 
emancipation  of,  44  et  seq.  ;  how 
one  might  become  a,  41  ;  labour 
of,  42  •   no  incentive  for,  to  work, 


INDEX 


48 ;    no    protection    for,    against 
lord,  39,    42,  48  J    power  of    lord 

(over,  43  5  power  of,  to  rise  in  social 
scale,  40  ;  rights  of,  35,  39,  42  ; 
security  of,  112  ;  status  of,  39 
Serfdom,  based  generally  on  birth, 
41  ♦  decline  of,  41  j  extinction  of, 
58  5  the  end  of,  in  England,  60 
Servile  labour,   46  ;    inefficiency  of, 

;     47,62,65     . 

I  Servus,  derivation  of  term,  26 

Settlements,  parish,  127 

Shaftesbury,  Earl  of,  249,  251,  293, 
328  et  seq.     See  also  Ashley,  Lord 

Shelburne,  Lord,  261 .  See  also  Lans- 
downe,  Marquess  of 

Simon  of  Paris,  40 

Slave(s),  25  ;  a  thing,  26,  30  ;  a 
power,  31  ;  difference  between 
serf  and,  35  ;  disabilities  of,  29 ; 
emancipation  of,  44  et  seq.  ;  in 
commerce,  32;  means  of  obtaining, 
34  ;  marriage  of,  29  ;  power  of 
master  over,  27  ;  professions  of, 
30  ;  protection  of  honour  of,  31 ; 
Roman,  the,  26  et  seq.  ;  status  of, 
26  ;  torture  of,  29  ;  traffic  in,  34 

Slavery,  African,  62,  64  ;  American, 
64  ;  causes  of,  34  ;  colonial,  61  ; 
end  of,  in  England,  60  ;  end  of, 
in  Scotland,  60  ;  Greek  view  of, 
25  ;  Hebrew  view  of,  25  ;  made 
;  illegal  in  England,  60  ;  not  limited 
to  manual  workers,  30  ;  Roman 
view  of,  25  ;  Tudor  legislation 
relating  to,  59,  100  ;  Wilberforce 
and  abolition  of,  61 
Slums,   200 ;      of   London   in    1884, 

327 
Smith,  Adam,  151,  223,  289 
Smith,  Dr  Southwood,  330,  331 
Smith,  J.  Toulmin,  67,  69,  77 
Smith,  Miss  Toulmin,  77 
Snowden,  Philip,  381,  384 
Society  for  Constitutional  Informa- 
tion, 260,  261,  265 
Society     for     Promoting     Christian 

Knowledge,  169 

Standard  of  life,  in  1836,  198  ;  Tudor 

efforts  to  secure  a  reasonable,  103  ; 

worker  entitled  to  reasonable,  217 

;     State  control,  collateral  advantages 

of,  395  ;  efficiency  of,  391  ;  experi- 

\        ences  of,  in  other  countries,  394  ; 

in   Germany,   393  ;    of  industries, 

j        391.     See   also   Wages,    Hours  of 

'        work.  Apprentices 


Strikes,  common  in  twentieth  cen- 
tury, 239  ;  direct  action  in,  241 ; 
illegal,  224 

Sturm,  John,  159 

Suffrage,  adult,  284;  universal,  re- 
jection of  O'Connell's  Bill  for,  271  ; 
women's,  284 

Sutton,  W.  R.,  336 

Sweden,  town-planning  in,  343 

Talleyrand,  264 

Thompson,  Poulett,  299 

Tillotson,  Dean,  167 

Tooke,  Home,  257,  265.  See  also 
Home,  John 

Torrens,  W.  T.  McC,  338 

Torrens  Acts,  337 

Towns,  charters  of,  50,  52,  53  ;  free, 
49  J  rise  of,  46,  49  ;   strength  of,  57 

Trade,  depression  of,  in  1846-7, 
308  ;  development  of,  147  ;  inter- 
national, commences,  58 ;  localities 
and  groups,  98 ;  localization  of,  50 ; 
lord's  control  of,  50;  nature  of,  in 
early  times,  34,  45 

Trade  unions,  decentralization  of 
authority  of,  240 ;  direct  action  by, 
241  ;  early,  225  ;  early,  political, 
232  ;  effect  of  combination  laws 
on,  225  ;  forming  of,  induced  by 
coming  of  factory  system,  230  ; 
German,  237;  in  America,  230; 
in  France,  228  ;  in  twentieth  cen- 
tury, 239  ;  increased  activity  of, 
239 ;  necessary  for  interests  of 
people,  237;  no  connexion  between 
gild  and,  66  ;  not  legal,  223  ;  no 
longer  illegal  in  1871,  236  ;  repres- 
sion of,  225  ;  results  of  activities 
of,  234  ;  rise  of,  217  et  seq. 
Trevelyan,  Sir  George,  57,  274,  279 
Turgot,  Baron,  229,  352 
Tyler,  Wat,  57 

Unemployed,  the,  122  ;  increased 
numbeis  of,  through  introduction 
of  machinery,  204  ;  penalties  for, 
122  ;  under  Elizabeth,  122  ;  Poor 
Law  system  and,  124.  See  also 
Vagabonds 

Unfree,  the — see  Slaves,  Slavery, 
Serfs,  Serfdom 

Usher,  Dr  A.  P.,  176,  185 

Vagabonds,  and  the  Tudors,  100, 
123,  138,  146  ;  and  unemployment, 
122  ;    threatened  with  slavery,  60 

Veitch,  G.  S.,  256,  261,  267 


HISTORY    OF    LABOUR 


Vemey,  Sir  Harry,  130 
Villein,  35.     See  also  Serf 

Wage(s),  allowance  system  and, 
131  •  Australia  and  minimum,  383  ; 
Coal  Mines  Minimum,  Act,  383  ; 
comparative  tables  of,  92  et  seq.  ; 
in  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries, 
46  ;  in  fourteenth  century,  88  ;  in 
seventeenth  century,  144  ;  justices 
and  fixing  of,  91,  105;  'living,' 
381  ;  maximum,  in  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries,  92  et  seq.  ; 
maximum,  in  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries,  105  et  seq. ; 
minimum,  first  attempt  to  secure, 
108  ;  reasons  for  standardization 
of,  92,  96  ;  regulation  of,  by  State 
in  fourteenth  century,  90  ;  regu- 
lation of,  by  Statute  of  Labourers, 
55  ;  standardization  of,  92  ;  State 
and  minimum,  382  >  under  Tudor 
legislation,  105 


Warner,  G.  T.,  121 

Waste  lands,  114 

Webb,  S.  J.,  66,  286,  399 

Webb,  S.  J.  and  Beatrice,  220,  221 
222, 225 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  268,  269,  272J 
280 

Wesley,  John,  200 

Whitbread,  Samuel,  170,  207 

Whitley  Councils,  purpose  of,  241 

Wilberforce,    William,    agitation    to 
abolish  slavery,  61 

Wilkes,  John,  252,  257,  258 

Worker,  the  landless,  204 

Worker's  control,  396 

Workhouse,  the,  132 

Workmen's  compensation — see  Com- 
pensation, workmen's 

Wycklif,  John,  156 

Wyvill,  Christopher,   252,   254,   258, 
261,  270 

Ypres,  57  ;  centre  of  cloth  trade,  58 


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